Search Results

Creator:

Johnson, Elaine L., 1928-1979  Search this

Subject:

Orozco, José Clemente  Search this

Sanchez, Emilio  Search this

Obregón, Alejandro  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Elaine L. Johnson papers, 1957-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, Central American  Search this

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Women art historians  Search this

Women museum curators  Search this

Theme:

Research and writing about art  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)5485

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209015

AAA_collcode_johnelai

Theme:

Research and writing about art

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209015

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:

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

Interviewee:

Freeman, Don, 1908-1978  Search this

Interviewer:

McGlynn, Betty Hoag  Search this

Creator:

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

Names:

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

New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Henri, Robert, 1865-1929  Search this

Marsh, Reginald, 1898-1954  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Sloan, John, 1871-1951  Search this

Tolegian, Manuel J. (Manuel Jerair), 1911-1983  Search this

Wickey, Harry  Search this

Extent:

1 Sound tape reel (Sound recording, 5 in.)

19 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound tape reels

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1965 June 4

Scope and Contents:

Interview of Don Freeman conducted 1965 June 4, by Betty Hoag McGlynn, for the Archives of American Art, in his home, in Santa Barbara, Calif. Freeman speaks of his childhood in San Diego with his guardian; his high school years spent in St. Louis at a public school Prineipia (and his teacher Kathryn Cherry); the knowledge of his artistic destiny as a child; his move to New York City in 1929; his time spent working as an unbooked trumpet player for jazz orchestras on Broadway; his formative years at the Art Students League under the guidance of John Sloan;

the influence of Robert Henri and "Art Spirit;" his decision to do illustrations for the theater section of the Herald Tribune of ongoing performances; his time spent studying with Harry Wickey (etcher and sculptor); his relationship and marriage to wife Lydia as well as description of life in downtown Manhattan immediately following the stock market crash ; time at Art Students League studying along side with Jackson Pollock, Manuel Tolegian, Whitney Darrel; his decision to work for the WPA in

the graphics department completing lithographs (1933-1934); "Freedom of the Press," a painting completed around the same time and the possible influence of Reginald Marsh; his interest in a project called "Paint for the People" (a public works project for the New York Subway system); time spent illustrating for the WPA theater magazine "The Living Magazine;" his opinions concerning acetate and stone as well as the use of mezzotint; his personal magazine which he published for four years (name unknown); a general summary of his feelings towards the WPA as an artistic force; his separation from the Union Uprisings due to his success within the program;

his work on "Our Flying Navy" a series of illustrations (now compiled as a book) used for advertisement for the Navy; his participation in the Association of American Artists before his term spent in the Army during WWII; his budding career as a children's books writer and illustrator (Barton Press); his illustrations for William Soroyan"s The Human Comedy; his move back west and his son Roy; and his current occupation of giving "Chalk Talks" around the country, speaking with students about art, music, theater.

Biographical / Historical:

Don Freeman (1908-1978) was an Illustrator from New York, N.Y. Went to New York City at the age of 21. Studied with John Sloan and Harry Wickey at the Art Students League.

General:

An unrelated interview of Ben Messick conducted by B. Hoag McGlynn is also on this tape.

Provenance:

Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Restrictions:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Topic:

Illustrators -- California -- Interviews  Search this

Federal aid to the arts  Search this

Artists' materials  Search this

Illustration of books  Search this

Prints -- Technique  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.freema65

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw995547556-a986-4ffc-a847-4f83d6982a0b

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-freema65

Interviewee:

Bolotowsky, Ilya, 1907-1981  Search this

Interviewer:

Cummings, Paul  Search this

Creator:

Diller, Burgoyne, 1906-1965  Search this

Names:

American Abstract Artists  Search this

American Artists' Congress  Search this

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

Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors  Search this

G.R.D. Studio (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

National Academy of Design (U.S.)  Search this

Public Works of Art Project  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Yaddo (Artist's colony)  Search this

Albers, Josef  Search this

Browne, Byron, 1907-1961  Search this

Dlugoszewski, Lucia, 1931-2000  Search this

Drewes, Werner, 1899-1985  Search this

Gorky, Arshile, 1904-1948  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Greene, Balcomb, 1904-1990  Search this

Greene, Gertrude, 1904-1956  Search this

Hawthorne, Charles Webster, 1872-1930  Search this

Holtzman, Harry  Search this

Johnson, William H., 1901-1970  Search this

Léger, Fernand, 1881-1955  Search this

Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944  Search this

Neilson, Raymond P. R. (Raymond Perry Rodgers), 1881-1964  Search this

Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this

Olinsky, Ivan G. (Ivan Gregorewitch), 1878-1962  Search this

Ozenfant, Amédée, 1886-1966  Search this

Spivak, Max, 1906-1981  Search this

Vogel, Joseph, b. 1911  Search this

Extent:

197 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Place:

Wyoming

Date:

1968 March 24-April 7

Scope and Contents:

Interview of Ilya Bolotowsky conducted 1968 March 24-April 7, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.

Bolotowsky, a lively raconteur, recalls a host of episodes from his personal and professional life. He speaks of his childhood in Russia and Azerbaijan; the effects of war and communism; the family's flight as refugees into Georgia and then to present-day Istanbul; and his early education with a private tutor and at a Jesuit school in Istanbul. Bolotowsky recalls his family's emigration to the United States by ship in 1923; his first impressions of New York City; and early visits to the city's museums. He relates numerous anecdotes about faculty and fellow students at the National Academy of Design, including Ivan Olinsky, Raymond Neilson, Charles Hawthorne, Amedee Ozenfant, and William Henry Johnson.

He speaks of various early exhibitions of his work, including those with the Art Students League, G.R.D. Studio, and the J.B. Neumann Gallery. He also describes a stay at Yaddo in 1934.

Bolotowsky recounts his participation in the Public Works of Art Project as a teacher of art to delinquent children; later work on the mural project of the Works Progress Administration; the picketing of WPA offices, providing anecdotes about Max Spivak and Joseph Vogel; military service during World War II, first working on a Russian dictionary of technical terms and then as a liason officer with the Soviet Air Force in Nome, Alaska.

Upon his return from the military, Bolotowsky immediately resumed his painting career, and describes his involvement with artists' organizations such as the American Abstract Artists, the American Artists' Congress, the Concretionists, the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, and the Ten; he mentions in these contexts such personalities as Byron Browne, Burgoyne Diller, Werner Drewes, Arshile Gorky, Clement Greenberg, Balcomb and Gertrude Greene, Harry Holtzman, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, and Meyer Schapiro.

Bolotowsky gives an extensive description of his experiences filling in for Joseph Albers for a year at Black Mountain College, and goes on to discuss his subsequent teaching positions at the University of Wyoming (including a discussion of the impact of the Wyoming landscape on his painting), Brooklyn College, Southampton College, and SUNY New Paltz. He devotes great attention to the development of his painting, his understanding of neo-plasticism and abstraction, and his efforts in filmmaking and playwriting.

Biographical / Historical:

Ilya Bolotowsky (1907-1981) was a Russian-American abstract painter in New York, New York.

General:

Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 12 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 37 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. Funding for the interview was provided by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Restrictions:

ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission required.

Occupation:

Filmmakers  Search this

Playwrights  Search this

Topic:

Art and state  Search this

Concretionists (Group of artists)  Search this

Emigration and immigration  Search this

Experimental films  Search this

Federal aid to the arts -- United States  Search this

Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Playwriting  Search this

Philadelphia Ten (Group of artists)  Search this

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

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.boloto68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ad928b0a-0396-445d-959c-d696af2c54e8

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-boloto68

Interviewee:

Agostini, Peter  Search this

Interviewer:

Roberts, Colette, 1910-  Search this

Names:

Columbia University -- Faculty  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Bontecou, Lee, 1931-  Search this

Chamberlain, John, 1927-2011  Search this

Chryssa, 1933-2013  Search this

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906  Search this

De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888-  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Demuth, Charles, 1883-1935  Search this

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Dove, Arthur Garfield, 1880-1946  Search this

Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-1985  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Ferber, Herbert, 1906-1991  Search this

Flannagan, John Bernard, 1895?-1942  Search this

Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Hague, Raoul, 1905-1993  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Judd, Donald, 1928-1994  Search this

Kaprow, Allan  Search this

Kienholz, Edward, 1927-  Search this

Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this

Kohn, Gabriel, 1910-1975  Search this

Kolbe, Georg, 1877-1947  Search this

La Tour, Onya, 1896-1976  Search this

Lachaise, Gaston, 1882-1935  Search this

Lassaw, Ibram, 1913-2003  Search this

Lippold, Richard, 1915-2002  Search this

Lipton, Seymour, 1903-1986  Search this

Macdonald-Wright, Stanton, 1890-1973  Search this

Maillol, Aristide, 1861-1944  Search this

Manship, Paul, 1885-1966  Search this

Marca-Relli, Conrad, 1913-2000  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Marisol, 1930-2016  Search this

Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954  Search this

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891  Search this

Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944  Search this

Morris, Robert, 1931-2018  Search this

Nakian, Reuben, 1897-1986  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this

Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-  Search this

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Pompon, François, 1855-1933  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957  Search this

Roszak, Theodore, 1907-1981  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Samaras, Lucas, 1936-  Search this

Scarpitta, Salvatore, 1919-2007  Search this

Segal, George, 1924-2000  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this

Smith, Tony, 1912-1980  Search this

Spaventa, George, 1918-  Search this

Stankiewicz, Richard, 1922-1983  Search this

Sugarman, George, 1912-1999  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Extent:

99 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Date:

1968

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Peter Agostini conducted in 1968, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art at 151 Avenue B, New York, New York.

Mr. Agostini speaks of his childhood spent living throughout the five boroughs of New York; his interactions with clients of his father's acting employment agency; his early education in Catholic school and the creative freedom allotted by the nuns; his first feelings of isolation as an artist at the age of seven; the development of a sense of communication as the result of the loss of his mother at the age of three and time spent at a school for orphans; his early realization and vision of artistic destiny; his religious interests which lead to mysticism in his earlier work; his time spent working freely in the DaVinci Studio with Spaventa; the discovery by Hess of his works in Gallerie Grimaud; his attainment of the Longview Grant; his working experience throughout the Depression as part of the WPA casting plaster mannequins while working indirectly with Pollack as well as Marca Relli; his subsequent move to designing department store windows (use of Mondrian-like forms and lines); his feelings of his position as an observer; the importance of communication through art (communication without words); his rejection of the Abstract Expressionist group and choice of independence; the influence of the sculpture of Kolbe and Bache in the thirties; Clement Greenberg's distaste for his work; his feelings about the relative failure to sell his work due its unusual edginess and mystery; his role in the introduction of the work of contemporary European artists (Chausserian, Gauthier, Modrian) to the American group; his description of his own work as "traditionless"; his feelings of self-importance as one of the most original sculptors in the art world; his influence on the younger generation, particularly Marisol; the enslavement to originality that the younger generation faces; his attitudes towards American Art forms and their lack of rebellious spirit; the virtues of the American writers, such as Poe, Whitman, and Melville as American "knapsack" writers; his personal technique which places an emphasis on the "skin" or volume of something; his attempt to create quiet art, or art that merely indicates features; his frustration with teaching and the problems of regurgitated knowledge; the role of Meyer Shapiro in his teaching career at Columbia; the formation of the Club and its similarity to the Cubist's café scene; his opinions on the relationship of sex and sensuality in American art; his personal struggles, including the loss of his second wife and two of his brothers, in addition to the estrangement of his only daughter by his first wife; his feelings on the role of psycho analysis and personal history in a work of art; his present works which feature the "swell." For the majority of the second half of the interview Ms. Roberts asks Mr. Agostini to express his opinions on the work of: Kline; DeKooning; Duchamp; Oldenburg; La Tour; DeChirico; Maillol; Pompon; Rothko; Chardin; Cezanne; Giacometti; Reinhardt; Chryssa; Tony Smith; Segal; Lachaise; Zorach; Manship; Flannagan; Kelly; Lassaw; David Smith; Hare; Lipton; Ferber; Lippold; Roszak; Nakian; Noguchi; Hague; Kohn; di Suvero; Chamberlain; Kaprow; Sugarman; Stankiewicz; Bontecou; Scarpitta; Cornell; Keinholz; Rivera; Judd; Robert Morris; O'Keeffe; Samaras; Mark Tobey; Marin; Pollock; Hartley; Dove; Macdonald-Wright; Demuth; Sheeler; Hopper; Mirot; Matisse; DuBuffet.

Biographical / Historical:

Peter Agostini (1913-1993) was a sculptor from New York, New York.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 28 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hrs., 37 min.

Transferred from 4 3" reels.

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.

Topic:

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

Abstract expressionism  Search this

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

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

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.agosti68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94f33a1ab-e475-4a6f-8b0b-f9822b288239

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-agosti68

Creator:

Greene, Balcomb, 1904-1990  Search this

Names:

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Gallatin, A. E. (Albert Eugene), 1881-1952  Search this

Greene, Gertrude, 1904-1956  Search this

Greene, Terryn  Search this

Extent:

9.8 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Short stories

Collages

Photographs

Poems

Theses

Articles

Interviews

Lecture notes

Sound recordings

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1880s-2009

Summary:

The Balcomb and Gertrude Greene papers, circa 1880s-2009, bulk circa 1905-1990, measure 9.8 linear feet. Balcomb Greene's career as a painter, educator, and writer - and to a lesser extent his personal life - is documented by biographical material, letters, subject files,writings, artwork, audio-visual recordings, printed material, and photographs. Documentation about sculptor Gertrude Greene, from 1926 until her death in 1956, consists of printed material, photographs, two letters to her, and a brief handwritten list of paintings and constructions.

Scope and Content Note:

The Balcomb and Gertrude Greene papers, circa 1880s-2009, bulk circa 1905-1990, measure 9.8 linear feet. Balcomb Greene's career as a painter, educator, and writer - and to a lesser extent his personal life - is documented by biographical material, letters, subject files,writings, artwork, audio-visual recordings, printed material, and photographs. Documentation about sculptor Gertrude Greene, from 1926 until her death in 1956, consists of printed material, photographs, two letters to her, and a brief handwritten list of paintings and constructions.

All biographical material relates to Balcomb Greene. Letters are almost exclusively incoming letters; two copies of outgoing letters written by Terryn Greene are included. Those addressed to Balcomb Greene regard articles, his will, an appraisal of a painting by him, and greeting cards with notes from friends. The two letters addressed to Gertrude Greene are photocopies. One from A. E. Gallatin concerns her work selected for the permanent collection of the Museum of Living Art at New York University; the other, a fragment from an unidentified correspondent, is about American Abstract Artists dues and exhibitions. The letters addressed to Terryn Greene concern her husband's career or mention him.

Subject files relate to activities and topics of interest to Greene or aspects of Greene's career; some concern estate matters. Of particular interest are: "Balcomb and Gertrude Greene in the WPA," consisting of Terryn Greene's research correspondence on the subject; and a file documenting a Judith Rothschild Foundation grant for conservation of paintings damaged in the 1996 fire that destroyed Balcomb Greene's studio.

Writings are by Balcomb Greene, Gertrude Greene, and other authors. Balcomb's writings include articles, novels, short stories, poems, journal entries, lecture notes, student writings, and a thesis. Gertrude Greene's writings consist of a handwritten list of paintings and constructions, noting the dimensions, date, and price of each piece. The writings of other authors are about Balcomb and Gertrude Greene. They include notes for an interview, a poem, student papers, and a thesis.

Art work consists of a collage probably by Balcomb Greene, and a sketchbook containing two of his drawings dated January 1976. Another drawing is signed [H?.] R. Balcomb Greene's register of paintings documents each completed painting on a separate sheet containing a small photograph or sketch, title, date of execution, and code or negative number, along with notes relating to exhibitions, loans, and ownership; some sheets bear the notation "destroyed." The register is incomplete, and the surviving portion bears evidence of the 1996 fire that gutted his studio. The least damaged portion documents works from 1941-1948, 1963-1964, and 1980-1982; the remaining part of the register consists of partial pages that are missing titles, dates of execution, or other salient information.

Exhibition catalogs and articles from newspapers and periodicals represent the majority of the printed material about or mentioning Balcomb and Gertrude Greene. In addition, there are articles by Balcomb published in a number of periodicals. Museum publications, annual reports, bulletins and newsletters mention the Greenes. Also found are issues of Art Front, 1934-1938 (Balcomb served on the editorial board and contributed articles), and his well-used copy of Modern Art by Katherine S. Drier.

Audio-visual recordings consist of interviews with Balcomb Greene and a "McCarthy tape" (Balcomb and Terryn helped organize "Montauk's Day for McCarthy"). Among the video recordings is a videocassette of Greene's 1990 memorial service.

Photographs are of art work, events, exhibition installations, miscellaneous subjects, people, and places. Art work of both Balcomb and Gertrude is documented. Among the photographs of people are images of Balcomb Greene, Gertrude Greene, Terryn Greene, family, friends and other individuals (identified and unidentified). Greene family photographs, some surviving from the 19th century, portray three generations. Photographs of events include documentation of the damage caused by the 1996 fire that destroyed Balcomb Greene's studio. Installation photographs document exhibitions that featured Balcomb Greene, the couple, and Gertrude Greene. Of particular interest is a view of Gertrude's contribution to the American Abstract Artists' 1937 show at Squibb Gallery. Miscellaneous subjects are Greene's Rolls Royce and pets. Places recorded include Greene's boyhood homes and churches, the house Balcomb built at Montauk, Gertrude's studio, and travel pictures of Europe and Asia. Also found are a small number of negatives, 35-mm slides, and color transparencies of art work, miscellaneous subjects, and people.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 9 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1926-1981 (Box 1; 0.2 linear ft.)

Series 2: Letters, 1936-2005 (Box 1; 3 folders)

Series 3: Subject Files, 1939-2008 (Box 1; 0.2 linear ft.)

Series 4: Writings, circa 1927-1984 (Boxes 1-3; 2.1 linear ft.)

Series 5: Art Work, 1976 (Box 3; 2 folders)

Series 6: Register of Paintings, undated (Box 3; 0.4 linear ft.)

Series 7: Printed Material, circa 1930-2009 (Boxes 4-7, 11, OV 12; 3.9 linear ft.)

Series 8: Audio-visual Recordings, 1963-1990 (Box 7; 0.3 linear ft.)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1880s-1996 (Boxes 7-11; 2.6 linear ft.)

Biographical Note:

Balcomb (1904-1990) and his wife Gertrude (1904-1956) were painters in New York, N.Y. John Wesley Greene (known professionally as Balcomb Greene), born May 22, 1904 in Millville, New York, was the youngest child of Reverend Bertram Stillman Greene, a Methodist minister. After his wife died in 1907, Reverend Greene and the children moved several times when he accepted assignments at small town churches in Iowa, South Dakota, and Colorado.

The recipient of a scholarship for sons of Methodist ministers, Greene entered Syracuse University in 1922, intending to become a minister. He studied philosophy, psychology, literature, and art, eventually deciding to pursue a career as a writer. When visiting the Metropolitan Museum during his senior year, Greene was introduced to Gertrude Glass by her cousin. They married soon after his graduation in 1926.

The newlyweds moved to Austria where he had a fellowship to study psychology at the University of Vienna. Greene was very interested in Freud's work and hoped to become his student; although he attended Freud's lectures and met the eminent psychologist once, this ambition was not realized. After returning to New York in 1927, Greene began studying for a master's degree in English literature at Columbia University. He specialized in the novel, and wrote three (none were published). When his thesis about prostitutes as portrayed in seventeenth century literature was submitted, Greene's major professor was on sabbatical; although the subject had been approved, the interim replacement rejected it as unsuitable. Greene left Columbia without obtaining a degree.

Greene then accepted a position at Dartmouth College where he taught literature from 1928-1931. The Greenes spent summers together in the city and visited frequently throughout the academic year. He continued writing and in 1930 began painting. Because there were already two artists named John Green then in New York, Greene soon adopted the name Balcomb (his maternal grandmother's maiden name). Although he was known as Balcomb for the remainder of his life, his name was never changed legally.

Balcomb Greene's first solo exhibition was held at Dartmouth College in 1931. After his resignation from the Dartmouth faculty in 1931, Balcomb and Gertrude spent a year in Paris. She found a studio and set to work. He planned to write, but was distracted by the desire to paint. He began independent study at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and in 1932 exhibited his work in Paris. Throughout the 1930s and into the 1940s Greene produced very flat geometric abstractions, adding biomorphic and anthropomorphic forms over time. By the mid-1940s, he found himself bored by pure abstraction and introduced figures, focusing on mass and space rather than line.

Greene quickly established himself as an artist, developed a wide circle of friends and was recognized as a leader of the abstract movement. He and Gertrude were both drawn to political causes that affected artists; along with friends they began the Unemployed Artists' Group (which later became the Artists' Union) and staged public demonstrations demanding government assistance so that artists would not be completely dependent on private patronage. He published articles in Art Front, the magazine of the Artist's Union, and served on its editorial board between 1935 and 1936. Balcomb and Gertrude Greene were among the founding members of American Abstract Artists; he served as the group's first chairman.

Like many artists during the Great Depression, Balcomb Greene found it very difficult to maintain a steady income. During this period he held many different jobs, among them: writing for the sensationalist newspapers Broadway Brevities and Graft, serving on the crew of a schooner searching for pirate gold in the South Pacific, and working at the non-profit Emily Francis Contemporary Gallery. Eventually, he secured a teaching position with the Federal Art Project. He later switched to the mural section where assignments included painting murals for the Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn and the Federal Hall of Medicine at the 1939 World's Fair, and designing a stained glass window for a school in the Bronx.

Because he did not want to support his career by teaching painting, in 1940 Balcomb Greene began graduate work in art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He earned a master's degree in 1942 and that same year began teaching history of art and culture at Carnegie Institute of Technology, a position he held until 1959. Gertrude set up a studio in their Pittsburgh home, but continued to maintain her New York studio, commuting between the two cities until war conditions made the trip too difficult. They returned to New York each summer, and in 1947 bought property on Long Island at Montauk Point where Balcomb constructed a modern house of cement blocks.

In addition to teaching and painting, Greene continued to write. Several articles about art and philosophy appeared between 1936 and 1950 in publications such as Art Front, College Art Journal, Art News, and Art Journal. He also wrote many poems. During his tenure at Carnegie Tech Balcomb Greene worked on but did not complete a book tentatively titled "The Villain and the School" and formulated ideas for another.

While Gertrude was terminally ill with cancer, and after her death in 1956, Balcomb reduced his teaching commitments, staying in Pittsburgh for only one semester each year. After retiring in 1959, he painted at Montauk and traveled. While in Paris, Greene met journalist Terryn Trimpen, whom he married in 1961.

Balcomb Greene was represented by Bertha Schaefer Gallery, Saidenberg Gallery and ACA Gallery, in New York, and by the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. He exhibited widely, participating in the annual exhibitions of the Whitney Museum of American Art and Art Institute of Chicago, and in group shows at the Walker Art Center, Brooklyn Museum, and other venues. Solo shows included exhibitions at the Forum Gallery, ACA Gallery, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York; Fairweather-Hardin Gallery, Chicago; and the Oceanographic Institute and Harmon-Meeks Gallery in Florida. Greene's work is in the permanent collections of many museums, among them the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

During the last five years of his life, Balcomb Greene was in frail health and unable to paint. He died November 12, 1990 at his Montauk Point home.

Gertrude Glass (who worked as an artist using her married name Gertrude Greene) was the daughter of Siegfried and Berta Glass, prosperous Latvian immigrants who owned a Brooklyn department store. At age 18, Gertrude and an older sister left home and organized a pre-school. From 1924 to 1928, Gertrude attended evening sculpture classes at the newly opened Leonardo Da Vinci Art School, a very traditional school in Manhattan that offered free instruction. Although the school itself was conservative, there Gertrude met and identified with a group of fairly radical students who were interested in the abstract art then emerging.

Glass and Greene were married in 1926 and spent the next year in Vienna. Upon returning to New York, she continued to make sculpture. Once they relocated to New Hampshire Gertrude was able to have her own sculpture studio. New Hampshire did not suit her and she gradually drifted back to the art world of New York. After Balcomb resigned from the Dartmouth faculty in 1931, the couple spent a year in Paris. They met many artists and frequented galleries where they saw the latest contemporary art. Gertrude worked on her sculpture and Balcomb, who had planned to write, began concentrating on painting; this was the only time the two shared a studio. When they moved to Pittsburgh, Gertrude kept her New York studio, expecting to commute regularly between the two cities, but war constraints soon made that plan impractical.

Gertrude Greene was active in liberal political causes, especially ones that affected artists and encouraged the formation of WPA programs to help struggling artists. She was an active member of the Federation of Painters and Sculptors, the Artists' Union, and a founding member of American Abstract Artists. As AAA's first paid employee, Gertrude served as gallery attendant. Before moving to Pittsburgh, both Greenes were very active on AAA committees, worked to further acceptance of abstract art, and picketed on many occasions. Typical of AAA actions was a 1937 demonstration against Museum of Modern Art exhibition policies that gave short shrift to abstract work by American artists.

Gertrude Greene was among the very earliest of American artists - quite possibly the first - to produce non-objective relief sculptures in the early 1930s. Over time, she absorbed Cubist tradition and ideas of the Russian Constructivists, synthesizing them into her own work. By the 1940s, she had become interested in Mondrian and Neo-Plasticism, influences that are reflected in her constructions of the period. Her final sculpture was produced in 1946 and for the remainder of her career she focused exclusively on abstract painting.

She participated in many group exhibitions, the first of which was at Wildenstein Gallery in 1945. Grace Borgenicht Gallery presented the first solo exhibition of Gertrude Greene's work in 1952, and another was held at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery in 1955. In 1982, there was a major retrospective of her work at ACA Gallery. Gertrude Greene's work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass.

Gertrude Greene's health began deteriorating in 1956; eventually, cancer was diagnosed. Later that year, on November 25, she died at a New York City hospital.

Related material:

Among the Bertha Schaefer papers and gallery records, 1914-1975, owned by the Archives of American Art are 58 letters from Balcomb Greene about sales and exhibitions (reel 271), and a scrapbook containing printed material about him (reel 42).

The holdings of the Archives of American Art include several interviews with Balcomb Greene. In 1972, he was interviewed by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art's oral history program (reel 4210). Greene is included among the Karl E. Fortess taped interviews with artists conducted 1963-1985 (not transcribed). Marian L. Gore's "Art Scene" interviews aired on Los Angeles radio station KPFK, 1962-1964, include one with Balcomb Greene (not transcribed). An interview with Balcomb Greene (transcribed) is among the Brooklyn Museum interviews of artists conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz, circa 1965-1985. The Anne Bowen Parsons collection of interviews on art, 1967-1968, contains an interview with Balcomb Greene (transcribed). Susan C. Larsen's interview with Balcomb Greene is part of oral history interviews relating to the American Abstract Artists Group, 1973-1978 (not transcribed).

Also available at the Archives of American Art is a video recording (VHS videocassette) "Balcomb Greene: 50 Years of Painting, Harmon Gallery," edited and directed by George Mauro, 1982.

Provenance:

Donated in 2009 by Terryn Trimpen Greene, widow of Balcomb Greene.

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.

Topic:

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

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

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Genre/Form:

Short stories

Collages

Photographs

Poems

Theses

Articles

Interviews

Lecture notes

Sound recordings

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Citation:

Balcomb and Gertrude Greene papers, circa 1880-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.greebalc2

See more items in:

Balcomb and Gertrude Greene papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9d511d161-4c2b-4b76-8ba7-32ae83aa85af

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-greebalc2

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-  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:

Russo, Michele, 1909-2004  Search this

Interviewer:

Van Cleve, Jane  Search this

Names:

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Extent:

49 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1983 August 29

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Michele Russo conducted 1983 August 29, by Jane Van Cleve, at the artist's studio in Portland, Or., for the Archives of American Art's Northwest Oral History Project. Russo speaks of his youth and educational background; attending Yale University Art School; his participation in social activism; working on WPA projects; the development of his interest in painting; the lack of a gallery system on the West Coast; themes that recur in his work; the fire at the Fountain Gallery; the pressures on contemporary artists; and West Coast art styles.

Biographical / Historical:

Michele Russo (1909-2004) was a painter from Portland, Or.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 42 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives' Northwest Oral History Project, begun in 1982 to document the Northwest artistic community through interviews with painters, sculptors, craftsmen, educators, curators, and others, in Oregon, Washington and Montana.

Topic:

Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, Modern -- Northwestern States  Search this

Art, American -- Northwestern States  Search this

Painters -- Oregon -- Portland -- Interviews  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.russo83

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99b4d52a0-155a-41db-8899-267fe077f949

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-russo83

Creator:

Forsyth, Robert J.  Search this

Names:

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Flannagan, John Bernard, 1895?-1942  Search this

Extent:

2.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Date:

1931-1987

Scope and Contents:

Research material on sculptor John Bernard Flannagan gathered in preparation for Forsyth's Ph.D dissertation on Flannagan (Univ. of Minnesota, 1965) and for an incomplete catalog raisonne. Included are photocopies of letters from Flannagan to the Works Progress Administration regarding his dismissal, 1933-1934; Forsyth's correspondence with Flannagan's acquaintances, collectors, art historians, and dealers, 1955-1987; an incomplete typescript of the catalogue raisonne, and other writings on Flannagan by Forsyth; notes and notebooks; research files including interviews, notes and printed material; exhibition catalogs and clippings, 1931-1976; and 1.0 linear ft. of photographs and negatives of Flannagan's art work.

Biographical / Historical:

Art historian; Eden Prairie, Minn. Flannagan was an American sculptor and engraver, 1895?-1942.

Related Materials:

Correspondence of Robert J. Forsyth, 1960-1961, is also located at University of Pennsylvania Libraries, Van Pelt Library.

Provenance:

Donated 1991 by Forsyth.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.

Occupation:

Sculptors  Search this

Art historians -- Minnesota  Search this

Topic:

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

Sculpture, American  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.forsrobe

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ab00263d-0693-47e0-9844-3ae1f96b09c1

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-forsrobe

Creator:

Constant, George  Search this

Names:

Art Institute of Chicago  Search this

Audubon Artists (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Brooklyn Museum  Search this

Carnegie Institute  Search this

Dayton Art Institute  Search this

Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors  Search this

Ferargil Galleries  Search this

Heckscher Museum  Search this

Lyman Allyn Art Museum  Search this

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Parrish Art Museum  Search this

Spanish Refugee Aid (Organization)  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Whitney Museum of American Art  Search this

Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this

Avery, Sally  Search this

Burliuk, David, 1882-1967  Search this

Caparn, Rhys, 1909-1997  Search this

Carnell, Julia Shaw Patterson, 1863-1944  Search this

Davidson, Morris, 1898-1979  Search this

Eaton, Charles Warren, 1857-1937  Search this

Gecan, Vilko, 1894-1973  Search this

Kanaga, Consuelo, 1894-  Search this

Landgren, Marchal E.  Search this

Neuberger, Roy R.  Search this

Pach, Walter, 1883-1958  Search this

Perret, Nell, 1916-  Search this

Preston, Georgette  Search this

Putnam, Wallace, 1899-1989  Search this

Extent:

4.6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Christmas cards

Photographs

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1912-2007

bulk 1932-1978

Summary:

The papers of modernist painter and printmaker George Constant measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1912-2007, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932-1978. They consist of biographical material, inventories of artwork, audio interviews and recorded statements on art, personal and business related correspondence, holiday cards, printed material, an exhibition related video recording, and photographs of Constant, his family and friends, and his work.

Scope and Contents note:

The papers of modernist painter and printmaker George Constant measure 4.6 linear feet and date from 1912-2007, with the bulk of the material dating from 1932-1978. They consist of biographical material, inventories of artwork, audio interviews and recorded statements on art, personal and business related correspondence, holiday cards, printed material, an exhibition related video recording, and photographs of Constant, his family and friends, and his work. A small portion of the correspondence and printed materials are written in Greek.

Biographical material includes artist statements written and recorded by Constant, two audio interview recordings discussing his philosophies on art and his work, inventories of artwork, personal property deeds and legal correspondence, and other miscellaneous material.

Correspondence is predominantly in the form of business and personal letters, postcards, and holiday cards received from family and friends. These include correspondence from Constant's daughter, Georgette Preston, and extended family members. Other frequent personal correspondents include Milton and Sally Avery, Lewis Balamuth, Margaret Brunning, David Burliuk, Nathaniel Burwash, Rhys Caparn, Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, Phillip Cavanaugh, Morris Davidson, Charles Eaton, Vilko Gecan, Marchal Landgren, Roy Neuberger, Walter Pach, Nell Perret, Constantine Pougialis, Wallace Putnam and Consuelo Kanaga, Hi Simons, and Helen Slosberg. Business related correspondents include Audubon Artists, Art Institute of Chicago, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Institute, Dayton Art Institute, Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Ferargil Galleries, Guild Hall, Heckscher Museum, Lyman Allyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Spanish Refugee Appeal, and the Whitney Museum. Other business correspondence related to Constant's work with the WPA are also included in the series.

Printed material includes books and booklets on American and Greek art, including a limited print edition of George Constant by George Constant, clippings and articles reviewing Constant's work, exhibition announcements and catalogs of Constant's shows, periodicals profiling his artwork, and dance and theater related programs that Constant consulted on.

Photographs include black and white prints of Constant and his family and friends in St. Louis, Missouri, Dayton, Ohio, and in and around his studio in Shinnecock Hills, New York. The collection also includes photo stills from his 1965 exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum and a comprehensive set of black and white prints, a handful of color prints, and several color slide sheets of Constant's artwork from the 1920s to 1978.

Arrangement note:

The collection is arranged into 4 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1923-2007 (Box 1; 17 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1930-1979 (Box 1-2; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 3: Printed Material, 1927-2005 (Box 2-3; 2 linear feet)

Series 4: Photographic Material, 1912-1978 (Box 4-6; 1 linear foot)

Biographical/Historical note:

Greek American George Zachary Constant (1892-1978) worked from his studios in Shinnecock Hills, and New York City, New York as a painter and printmaker. A founder and lifelong member of the Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors, Constant worked for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) during the Depression and early years of World War II, and exhibited regularly at major galleries and museums from the 1920s to 1970s.

Born in Arahova, Greece, Constant was raised by his two uncles after the death of his parents in 1896. In school and at the monestary one of his uncles led, Constant showed an early interest in classical Greek aesthetics. At the age of eighteen, he immigrated to the United States and continued his art studies at Washington University before transferring to the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1918 to 1922, Constant taught at the Dayton Art Institute and continued to produce and exhibit his work locally. In 1922, he moved to New York, joined the Society of Independent Painters, and became close friends with Society founder and art critic Walter Pach. During the 1920s, his etchings were shown at the Valentine and Downtown Galleries, and at the New Art Circle of J.B. Neumann, where he presented his first one man gallery show in 1929.

From the 1930s to 1940s, Constant produced prints, watercolors, and oil paintings for the WPA, many of which were purchased by museums and public institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum. During this same period, Constant exhibited his work at the Boyer Gallery in the late 1930s, and at the Ferargil Gallery from the 1940s to early 1950s. In the decade between 1955 and 1965, Constant also worked on color and set design for seventeen dance productions created by the choreographer Alwin Nikolais. In the last two decades of his career, Constant produced works from his studio in Shinnecock Hills, New York and continued to exhibit at numerous galleries, including Grace Borgenicht Gallery, Guild Hall, Mari Galleries, Tirca Karlis Gallery, and Artium Gallery.

Provenance:

The papers of George Constant were donated by the artist in 1969 and 1978. Additional materials were donated in 2001 and 2007 by his daughter Georgette Preston.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

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:

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

Art -- Philosophy  Search this

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

Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Genre/Form:

Christmas cards

Photographs

Video recordings

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

George Constant papers, 1912-2007, bulk 1932-1978. 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.consgeor

See more items in:

George Constant papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cec7527c-1946-423b-aab7-e7728da8a072

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-consgeor

Creator:

Roux, Barbara A., 1946-  Search this

Names:

Johnson, Ray, 1927-  Search this

Extent:

0.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Interviews

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1979-2017

Summary:

The papers of environmental artist and sculptor Barbara A. Roux measure 0.2 linear feet and date from circa 1979-2017. Included are biographical material and printed material consisting of press releases, exhibition catalogs and announcements relating to Roux's ecological and environmental themed installations and sculptures. Also found are two video recordings of televised interviews with Roux,1988 and 2000. Of note, is a letter featuring a drawing of a flower by Ray Johnson,"Poppy Day/ febr. 4, 1979" inscribed, "for Barbara R. from R. Johnson."

Scope and Contents:

The papers of environmental artist and sculptor Barbara A. Roux measure 0.2 linear feet and date from circa 1979-2017. Included are biographical material and printed material consisting of press releases, exhibition catalogs and announcements relating to Roux's ecological and environmental themed installations and sculptures. Also found are two video recordings of televised interviews with Roux,1988 and 2000. Of note, is a letter featuring a drawing of a flower by Ray Johnson,"Poppy Day/ febr. 4, 1979" inscribed, "for Barbara R. from R. Johnson."

Arrangement:

Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.

Biographical / Historical:

Barbara A. Roux (1946- ) is an environmental artist and sculptor living in New York, N.Y. Working within the spheres of installation and environmental art, Barbara Roux regularly references ideas about natural history, habitat loss, and preservation. Roux engages with nature and the landscape with a sensibility towards conservation, inspired by her father who was a pharmacologist who worked with plants and animals in the Brazilian Amazon while conducting research on Yellow Fever. Roux received her Master of Fine Arts from Hunter College in New York City. She has exhibited and lectured widely throughout the United States since the early 1980s.

Provenance:

The Barbara A. Roux papers were donated in 2003 and 2018 by Barbara A. Roux.

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research. Archival audiovisual recordings must be digitized for research access. Researchers may access digitized audiovisual materials in the Archives' Washington, D.C. or New York, N.Y. Research Centers by appointment. Contact Reference 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

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

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Interviews

Video recordings

Citation:

Barbara A. Roux Papers, circa 1979-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.rouxbarb

See more items in:

Barbara A. Roux papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e0e8b78d-14c6-402d-ac24-85f1c0afe067

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-rouxbarb

Creator:

Santos Solomon, Julia, 1956-  Search this

Names:

Parsons School of Design -- Faculty  Search this

Calamari, Barbara  Search this

Dye, Alice  Search this

Dye, Pete  Search this

Extent:

2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Diaries

Date:

1972-2014

Summary:

The papers of Julia Santos Solomon measure 2.0 linear feet and date from 1972 to 2014. The papers document Santos Solomon's career as an artist, educator, and fashion designer through a proposal for "Lola!" television show, proposals for a series of children's books, exhibition announcements and catalogs, photographs of artwork, and other professional activity files; writings consisting of notes, diary pages, and diaries; and sketches, sketchbooks, and other artwork.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Julia Santos Solomon measure 2.0 linear feet and date from 1972 to 2014. The papers document Santos Solomon's career as an artist, educator, and fashion designer through a proposal for "Lola!" television show, proposals for a series of children's books, exhibition announcements and catalogs, photographs of artwork, and other professional activity; writings consisting of notes, diary pages, and diaries; and sketches, sketchbooks, and other artwork.

Professional material consists of correspondence with Alice Dye, wife of Pete Dye, golf course architect; commission files relate to golf course landscape paintings, prints, and textiles; some exhibtion catalogs and announcements; and printed material related to Altos de Chavon School of Design. Also included are proposals for a series of children's books consisting of some correspondence, draft manuscripts, and sketches. Audio visual material consists of a DVD and CD related to the pilot television program 'Lola' (never produced) created by Santos Solomon and Barbara Calamari and loosely based on Santos Solomon's biography, especially as a teenager and young adult. Also included are episode descriptions and notes about the show.

Writings include three diaries recording Santos Solomon's study of art and design, largely in the Dominican Republic and Europe. Also included are pages of diary entries from various years, and some notebooks of notes.

Artwork consists of sketchbooks, sketches, fashion illustrations, an original watercolor, pen, and pencil textile designs.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series.

Series 1: Professional Activity Files, 1972-2014 (0.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 2: Writings, 1977-2007 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Artwork, 1985-2002 (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, OV 4-7)

Biographical / Historical:

Julia Santos Solomon (1956- ) is an educator, painter, sculptor, digital artist, and textile and fashion designer in the Dominican Republic and Woodstock, New York. Santos Solomon was born in the Dominican Republic in 1956, and she emigrated to the United States in 1966 where she eventually went on to study at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. Santos Solomon was a founding member of Altos de Chavon School of Design of Parsons School of Design, through which her vision shaped generations of successful Dominican artists. She currently resides in Woodstock, New York.

Related Materials:

Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Julia Santos Solomon conducted by Fernanda Espinosa, August 26, 2020; an oral history interview conducted by Fernanda Espinosa, March 9-April 15, 2021.

Provenance:

Donated 2015 and 2016 by Julia Santos Solomon.

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 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:

Art teachers -- Dominican Republic  Search this

Art teachers -- New York (State)  Search this

Fashion designers -- Dominican Republic  Search this

Fashion designers -- New York (State)  Search this

Painters -- Dominican Republic  Search this

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

Textile designers -- Dominican Republic  Search this

Textile designers -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Diaries

Citation:

Julia Santos Solomon Papers, 1972-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.santjuli

See more items in:

Julia Santos Solomon papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw90af5380d-186a-44a1-be5a-a9676468fbef

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-santjuli

Creator:

Wilson, John, 1922-2015  Search this

Interviewer:

Trachtenberg, Alan  Search this

Extent:

5 Microfilm reels

1 Cassette (Sound recording, analog)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Microfilm reels

Cassettes

Drawings

Interviews

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Date:

circa 1939-1993

Scope and Contents:

This microfilm collection of the papers of African American painter, sculptor, illustrator, printmaker, and educator John Woodrow Wilson contains biographical material such as autobiographical notes, school records, personal documents, and a bibliography; personal and business correspondence, undated and 1938-1993; files on the New York City Board of Education, 1959-1965, regarding his teaching; and project files, including Wilson's submission for the competition for a Frederick Douglass statue, Eternal Presence, Father and Child Reading, and Wilson's monuments and bust of Martin Luther King, Jr. Correspondents represented include the Albany Institute of History and Art, Atlanta University, Carnegie Institute, Ebony, David Porter of the G Place Gallery, the Institute of Modern Art, Alain Locke, Gloria May, the Museum of Modern Art, Frederick G. Rice, and Hale Woodruff.

Also included in the collection are files on exhibitions; notebooks, 1958-1960; lesson plans, 1959, 1963; notes, writings, and lectures, circa 1945-1993; transcripts of interviews of Wilson and related correspondence, 1978-1987; legal material, 1978; financial records 1944-1991, including a notebook of sales and expenses 1945-1950; photographs, 1940-1990, of Wilson, his work, sculpture, and exhibition installations; a scrapbook, 1939-1967; artwork, including sketchbooks, 1970-1992, life studies completed as a student, 1939-1947, and miscellaneous art work, 1939-1992; and printed material, 1939-1993, including exhibition catalogs, illustrated books and book jackets, and ephemera. The collection also includes a copy of a sound recording of an interview of Wilson conducted by Alan Trachtenberg, circa 1979 (untranscribed).

Biographical / Historical:

John Woodrow Wilson (1922-2015) was an African American painter, sculptor, illustrator, printmaker, and educator in Boston, Massachusetts. Wilson studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston under Ture Bengtz and Karl Zerbe, graduating in 1945. He lived in Paris through the MFA fellowship and studied with modern artist Fernand Leger. He then attended Tufts University, graduating in 1947. Wilson received a John Hay Whitney fellowship and lived in Mexico for five years with his wife, Julie Kowtich. After his return from Mexico in 1956, Wilson made artwork for Chicago labor unions and taught in New York City before returning to teach at Boston University in 1964. During his career, Wilson won competitions to execute statues of Martin Luther King, Jr. for the city of Buffalo, New York and for the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C.

Provenance:

Lent for microfilming 1993 by John W. Wilson, except for the 1979 sound recording which he lent for copying.

Restrictions:

Microfilm portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of untranscribed interview requires an appointment.

Occupation:

Painters -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this

Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this

Educators -- Massachusetts -- Boston  Search this

Topic:

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

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

African American artists  Search this

African American educators  Search this

African American painters  Search this

African American sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Interviews

Scrapbooks

Sound recordings

Identifier:

AAA.wilsjohn

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ea018d94-6ec4-4d8f-9d56-9428d4c92e78

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-wilsjohn

Creator:

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Names:

Socrates Sculpture Park  Search this

Lessick, Helen  Search this

Extent:

6.8 Linear feet

0.263 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Drawings

Photographs

Sound recordings

Interviews

Video recordings

Slides (photographs)

Date:

1934-2005

Summary:

The collection measures 6.8 linear feet and 0.263 GB, dates from 1934 to 2005, and documents the career of sculptor Mark di Suvero and family relationships. Found within the papers are biographical material; letters to and from di Suvero family members; scattered writings by di Suvero and Marie Louise Martignoni di Suvero, the artist's sister, about Mark di Suvero; drawings; a file on the Socrates Sculpture Park; a file on artist Helen Lessick, an acquaintance of Mark di Suvero; exhibition files; printed material; photographs of the artist, artwork, and members of the di Suvero family; audio and video recordings of interviews with di Suvero; and promotional Tee Shirts.

There is an unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes a WordPerfect transcript in electronic format of an unpublished play Crescent Moon, Yellow Star, but Henry (Hank) di Suvero, 2004.

Scope and Content Note:

The collection measures 6.8 linear feet and 0.263 GB, dates from 1934 to 2005, and documents the career of sculptor Mark di Suvero and the importance of his family relationships. Found within the papers are biographical material; letters to and from di Suvero family members; scattered writings by di Suvero and Marie Louise Martignoni di Suvero, the artist's sister, about Mark di Suvero; drawings; a file on the Socrates Sculpture Park; a file on artist Helen Lessick, a friend of Mark di Suvero; exhibition files; printed material; photographs of the artist, artwork, and members of the di Suvero family; audio and video recordings of interviews with di Suvero; and promotional Tee Shirts.

There is an unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes a WordPerfect transcript in electronic format of an unpublished play Crescent Moon, Yellow Star, but Henry (Hank) di Suvero, 2004.

Arrangement:

The collection has been arranged into 12 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1941-2004 (Box 1; 4 folders)

Series 2: Letters, 1956-2005, undated (Boxes 1, 6-8, 11-12, OV 10; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 3: Notes and Writings, 1961-2005, undated (Boxes 1, 6; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 4: Drawings, 1983, undated (Box 1; 1 folder)

Series 5: Socrates Sculpture Park File, 1985-2004, undated (Boxes 1-2, 7; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 6: Helen Lessick File, 1986-2004 (Box 2, 7; 6 folders)

Series 7: Exhibition Files, 1975-2003 (Boxes 2-3, 7; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 8: Printed Material, 1958-2004, undated (Box 3-4, 7, OV 9; 1.4 linear feet)

Series 9: Photographs, 1934-2004, undated (Box 4-6, 0.263 GB; ER01; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 10: Audio and Video Recordings, 1982-1994, undated (Box 5; 7 folders)

Series 11: Promotional Tee Shirts, 1978-2001 (Box 7; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 12: Unprocessed 2022 Addition, 2004

All series have been arranged chronologically.

Biographical Note:

Mark di Suvero was born September 18, 1933, in Shanghai, China, the son of Matilde Millo di Suvero and Victor E. di Suvero, an Italian diplomat. He was one of four children: Victor M., the eldest, Marie Louise, Mark, and the youngest son Henry. With the outbreak of World War II, the family immigrated to San Francisco, California, in 1941.

Mark di Suvero studied fine arts and philosophy at the San Francisco City College from 1953 to 1954, and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1954-1955, where he began creating sculpture. In 1956, he received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley. The following year, di Suvero moved to New York City to establish a career as a sculptor.

Shortly before his first solo exhibition at the Green Gallery in 1960, di Suvero suffered severe spinal injuries when he was pinned against an elevator shaft in a construction accident. Initially confined to a wheelchair for two years, di Suvero persevered in overcoming his injuries and continuing his work.

In protest of the Vietnam War, di Suvero left the United States in 1971, and exhibited his sculpture in Holland and Germany. A year later, he established a painting and drawing studio in Venice, where he also taught at the Università Internazionale dell'Arte, and, in 1973, he moved to France. Also during this time, di Suvero married Maria Teresa Capparotta, an architect, whom he later divorced.

The Whitney Museum of American Art honored Mark di Suvero in 1975 with the first retrospective and first American city-wide exhibition of his work, in New York City. At this time, di Suvero began working with a team in assembling his sculpture, first with Lowell McKegney, and later joined by his nephews Enrico and Matteo Martignoni.

In 1977, di Suvero founded the Athena Foundation to award grants to artists. In 1986, in conjunction with the Athena Foundation and with Enrico Martignoni, he created the Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City, New York, an outdoor space where sculptors are invited to create and exhibit their work. With Marcel Evrard in 1988, di Suvero created a foundation entitled La Vie des Formes (The Life of Forms) in the shipyards at Chalon-sur-Saône, France. Based upon the model of Socrates Sculpture Park, this organization hosted artists in studio and exhibition spaces at the shipyard and on di Suvero's converted canal barge Rêve des Signes, that was moored alongside.

Included in most major international gallery collections, Mark di Suvero's art work has also been the focus of major solo exhibitions including two at Storm King, and international city-wide exhibitions in Duisberg and Stuttgart in Germany, Chalon-sur-Saône, Paris, Valence, and Nice in France, and Valencia in Spain. During the summer of 1995, di Suvero was honored with a major installation of seven pieces along the Grand Canal to coincide with the Venice Biennale's 100th anniversary.

In 1993, Mark di Suvero married Kate Levin, Ph.D., a professor at the City University of New York and Commissioner of the New York Department of Cultural Affairs. Di Suvero and Levin have a daughter named Veri. At present, di Suvero maintains studios in Petaluma, California, Long Island City, New York, and Chalon-sur-Saône, France.

Provenance:

The Mark di Suvero and di Suvero family papers were donated in 2004 and 2005 by Marie Louise Martignoni di Suvero, the artist's sister. One transcript of a play by Henry di Suvero was donated in 2022 by Henry (Hank) di Suvero's estate, via Scott Krauss, co-executor.

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.

The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: transcipt of the play Crescent Moon, Yellow Star by Henry (Hank) di Suvero.

Topic:

Works of art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Photographs

Sound recordings

Interviews

Video recordings

Slides (photographs)

Citation:

Mark di Suvero and di Suvero family papers, 1934-2005. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.disumark

See more items in:

Mark di Suvero and di Suvero family papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ea7b9169-d8a6-4981-979f-5fe6b168eacb

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-disumark

Creator:

McGrath, James A.  Search this

Names:

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Wiley, William T., 1937-2021  Search this

Extent:

5.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Poems

Prints

Postcards

Paintings

Sketches

Illustrated letters

Christmas cards

Photographs

Date:

1950-2011

Summary:

The papers of arts educator James A. McGrath measure 5.4 linear feet and date from 1950-2011. Included are McGrath's papers concerning his artist's residencies and workshops for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in the Yemen Republic, Saudi Arabia, and the Republic of the Congo, 1990-1995. Also found are McGrath's papers concerning artist William Wiley. These papers date from Wiley's high school days and includes correspondence, writings, student files, printed materials, photographs, and artwork. Letters from Wiley to McGrath span several decades and provide details about his artwork, family, and travels.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of arts educator James A. McGrath measure 5.4 linear feet and date from 1950-2011. Included are McGrath's papers concerning his artist's residencies and workshops for the United States Information Agency (USIA) in the Yemen Republic, Saudi Arabia, and the Republic of the Congo, 1990-1995. Also found are McGrath's papers concerning artist William Wiley. These papers date from Wiley's high school days and includes correspondence, writings, student files, printed materials, photographs, and artwork. Letters from Wiley to McGrath span several decades and provide details about his artwork, family, and travels.

James McGrath's papers regarding his artist's residencies and workshops are currently unprocessed.

Wiley's high school student files consist of exams and two Columbia High School yearbooks with contributions from Wiley. Correspondence includes mostly letters written from Wiley to McGrath, some of which are illustrated. There are also Christmas cards, postcards, prints and a wedding invitation and photograph of Wiley and his wife Mary. Wiley writes about his artwork, family, travels and his mother's death. There are also letters to McGrath from Wiley's first and second wives, Dorothy and Mary, his mother, and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Mark Tobey.

Printed materials include exhibition catalogs and announcements, news and magazine clippings, and the books Distraction, Lyrica and Almost Old/New Poems, all illustrated by Wiley.

Artwork by Wiley includes block prints, sketches and drawings, poems, paintings, prints and posters. Photographs are of Wiley's high school yearbook staff, art work and exhibitions, and a dinner honoring Wiley. There is a signed high school photograph of Wiley and a booklet of photographs of an exhibition of McGrath's art. There are also slides of artwork by Wiley, Bob Hudson and Bill Allan.

Arrangement:

The papers are arranged as 2 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: James A. McGrath Papers Concerning William T. Wiley (Box 1-3, OVs 4-6; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 2: Unprocessed James A. McGrath Papers, circa 1990-1995 (Boxes 7-9, OVs 10-12)

Biographical Note:

Arts educator James A. McGrath was a high school art teacher at Columbia High School in Richland, Washington where he taught William T. Wiley in the mid-1950s. They remained life-long friends. Later, McGrath worked at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe as Director of Arts, Professor of Painting, and Dean. In 1973 he became Director of Arts, Humanities and Culture in the Department of Defense and was stationed in Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan and the Philippines. He also worked for the United States Information Agency in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the Republic of the Congo. He continues to be active as an arts education specialist.

William T. Wiley (b. 1937)is a contemporary artist painting and teaching primarily in the San Francisco area. His artwork is associated with the Bay area Funk Movement. Wiley studied at the California School of Fine Arts and completed his MFA in 1962. One year later he joined the faculty of the UC Davis art department along with artists Robert Arneson and Roy DeForest. Wiley's students included Bruce Nauman and Deborah Butterfield.

Wiley's first solo exhibition was held at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1960, and he had works in the Venice Biennial (1980) and Whitney Biennial (1983), as well as major exhibitions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. His artwork is in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. Wiley was the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship Award in 2004 and, in 2009, the Smithsonian American Art Museum presented a retrospective exhibition of Wiley's career.

Related Material:

The Archives of American Art also holds several collections related to William T. Wiley including an oral history interview conducted by Paul J. Karlstrom, October 8-November 20, 1997 and the William T. Wiley illustrated journals on microfilm reel 910. The University of Washington also holds papers of James A. McGrath.

Separated Material:

Six Documenta catalogs, originally donated to AAA with the James A. McGrath Papers Concerning William T. Wiley, were transferred to the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.

Provenance:

The papers were donated by James A. McGrath in five accessions between 2010-2015. A drawing on tree bark was donated by William T. Wiley in 2016.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment.

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 -- San Francisco  Search this

Painters -- California -- San Francisco  Search this

Topic:

Performance artists -- California -- San Francisco  Search this

Illustrators -- California -- San Francisco  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Poems

Prints

Postcards

Paintings

Sketches

Illustrated letters

Christmas cards

Photographs

Citation:

James A. McGrath papers, 1950-2011. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.mcgrjame

See more items in:

James A. McGrath papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f46f5e33-d56b-4f72-9bdc-6c6a5de8071b

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-mcgrjame

Creator:

De Forest, Roy, 1930-  Search this

Subject:

Nixon, Bruce  Search this

Strohl, Audrey  Search this

Uccello, Paolo  Search this

Zack, David  Search this

Dilexi Gallery  Search this

Loujon Press  Search this

Type:

Drawings

Interviews

Sketchbooks

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Citation:

Roy De Forest papers, 1916-2015, bulk 1948-2007. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California  Search this

Educators -- California  Search this

Sculptors -- California  Search this

Funk  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)9298

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211493

AAA_collcode_deforoy

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211493

Creator:

Sanford, Marion, 1904-1987  Search this

Subject:

Chapin, Cornelia  Search this

Hernández, Mateo  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Photographs

Motion pictures (visual works)

Scrapbooks

Video recordings

Interviews

Drawings

Citation:

Marion Sanford and Cornelia Chapin papers, 1929-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Sculpture -- Technique  Search this

Bas-relief  Search this

Sculpture, American -- 20th century  Search this

Artists' studios  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)6270

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)216613

AAA_collcode_sanfmari

Theme:

Women

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_216613

Creator:

Greene, Balcomb, 1904-1990  Search this

Subject:

Gallatin, A. E. (Albert Eugene)  Search this

Greene, Terryn  Search this

Greene, Gertrude  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Type:

Short stories

Collages

Photographs

Poems

Theses

Articles

Interviews

Lecture notes

Sound recordings

Drawings

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Citation:

Balcomb and Gertrude Greene papers, circa 1880s-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

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

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

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Art -- Study and teaching  Search this

Theme:

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)15691

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)283196

AAA_collcode_greebalc2

Theme:

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_283196

Creator:

Santos Solomon, Julia, 1956-  Search this

Subject:

Calamari, Barbara  Search this

Dye, Alice  Search this

Dye, Pete  Search this

Parsons School of Design  Search this

Type:

Drawings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Diaries

Citation:

Julia Santos Solomon papers, 1972-2014. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Theme:

Latino and Latin American  Search this

Diaries  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)16297

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)373772

AAA_collcode_santjuli

Theme:

Latino and Latin American

Diaries

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_373772