Search Results

Creator:

Boyd-Snee, Rancy  Search this

Names:

Boyd-Snee, Rancy  Search this

Butler, David, 1898-  Search this

Fagaly, William A.  Search this

Gasperi, Richard  Search this

Spitzer, Nicholas R.  Search this

Extent:

2 Items (Master: 1 videocassette (14 min.) : sd., col. ; 3/4 in; reference copy: 1 videocasette (14 min.) (VHS) ; sd., col. ; 1/2 in)

Reference copy: 1 videocasette (14 min.) (VHS) ; sd., col. ; 1/2 in

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Video recordings

Interviews

Date:

c1985

Scope and Contents:

A documentary about David Butler written, edited and produced by Rancy Boyd-Snee in 1985. Boyd-Snee discusses the similarities between African figural and black American sculpture; Butler's methods and materials; his imagery; and how his life changed as a result of media exposure. The video also includes comments by Nick Spitzer of the Louisiana Folklife Program, Butler's dealer Richard Gasperi, and William Fagaly, chief curator at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Provenance:

Donated 1986 by Rancy Boyd-Snee.

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.

Rights:

Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce requires written permission from Rancy Boyd-Snee. 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.

Occupation:

Sculptors  Search this

Topic:

African American artists  Search this

Folk art  Search this

Genre/Form:

Video recordings

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.boydranc

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9881f046d-e6fb-46df-9064-ec6b3f30636a

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-boydranc

Interviewee:

Tomkins, Margaret, 1916-2002  Search this

Interviewer:

Guenther, Bruce  Search this

Subject:

FitzGerald, James  Search this

Artists Gallery (Seattle, Wash.)  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

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

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, Modern -- Northwestern States  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12308

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212455

AAA_collcode_tomkin84

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212455

Creator:

Hadzi, Dimitri, 1921-2006  Search this

Names:

Harvard University -- Faculty  Search this

Foundry, Nicci  Search this

Extent:

37.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Drawings

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Diaries

Motion picture film

Date:

1910s-2007

Summary:

The papers of Greek American sculptor and educator Dimitri Hadzi measure 37.2 linear feet and date from 1910s-2007, with the bulk of records dating 1936-2007. The collection documents Hadzi's career through biographical material such as education records, World War II files, and some interviews; correspondence with family, artists, art historians, architects, and professional organizations; diaries, notebooks, and other writings; exhibition, gallery and museum, teaching, and project files; personal business records; clippings, exhibition ephemera, invitations, and other printed material; photographs of Hadzi, events and exhibitions, installations, foundries, and studios; some artwork; and audio recordings and motion picture films.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Greek American sculptor and educator Dimitri Hadzi measure 37.2 linear feet and date from 1910s-2007, with the bulk of records dating 1936-2007. The collection documents Hadzi's career through biographical material; correspondence; diaries, notebooks, and other writings; exhibition, gallery and museum, teaching, and project files; personal business records; printed material; photographs, some artwork, audio recordings, and motion picture films.

Biographical material includes files pertaining to Hadzi's education at Cooper Union (1946-1950) and Polytechnion in Athens, Greece (1950-1951) as well as his high school years at Brooklyn Technical High School (1936-1940); years enlisted in the Army Air Force (1942-1946); and his hobbies of music, mineral collecting, and geology. Also found are address books, honors and awards, interviews, and resumes. Hadzi's professional correspondents include artists, art historians, architects, and professional organizations. Also found is personal correspondence with family, friends, and acquaintances, most extensively during his years in the military.

Diaries and notebooks consist of memoranda books, travel logs, and annotated calendars. Writings include drafts, correspondence, and some printed material from Dimitri Hadzi (1996) by Peter Selz. Material gathered for his incomplete memoir, artist statements, and writings about Hadzi are also present.

Exhibition files shed light on various group and solo exhibitions of Hadzi's work. The files mostly consist of shipping records, correspondence, press releases and other printed matter, photographs, and loan documents. Gallery and museum files include loan and sale agreements, price lists, clippings, newsletters, shipping information, and some papers related to exhibitions.

Project files include sketches and blueprints, correspondence, legal documents, shipping information, and some audiovisual material regarding the installation of Hadzi's sculptures. The files also pertain to recasted sculptures, small-scale projects, and unexecuted commissions. Teaching Files include administrative correspondence, clippings, lecture and discussion notes, course descriptions, and correspondence from Hadzi's tenure as Visual and Environmental Studies professor at Harvard University. Papers related to instructor positions, employment opportunities, and lectures outside of Harvard are also present. Personal business records include sales, inventories, and other financial material; correspondence, shipping information, and price lists from foundries and material distributors; studio logs, correspondence, and notes.

Printed materials consist of exhibition invitations, announcements, post cards, and books; news clippings and articles; printed matter from special events, exhibitions of other artists, press releases, and newsletters. Photographs include portraits and snapshots of Hadzi, depicting him working in studios and foundries, at installation sites and events, and with his family. Also included are photographs of other artists, Hadzi's travel in Japan, and his artwork. Artwork found in this collection consists of six sketchbooks, several small drawings, and one woodblock.

Audiovisual material is extensive and includes documentation of the creation, installation, and exhibition of some of Hadzi's work. The majority of the footage centers on the creation and installation of the Thermopylae sculpture in front of the JFK Federal Building in Boston, Massachusetts in 1968.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 13 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1910s, bulk 1936-2004 (Box 1-3, 33; 2.7 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1943-2007 (Box 3-6; 3 linear feet)

Series 3: Diaries and Notebooks, 1939-2006 (Box 6-9; 3 linear feet)

Series 4: Writing Files, 1945-2003 (Box 9; 10 folders)

Series 5: Exhibition Files, 1958-2002 (Box 9-10; 1.2 linear feet)

Series 6: Project Files, 1957-2002 (Box 11-15, 33; 4.7 linear feet)

Series 7: Teaching Files, 1955-2000 (Box 15-16; 12 folders)

Series 8: Museum and Gallery Files, 1947-2008 (Box 16-17; 1.8 linear feet)

Series 9: Personal Business Records, 1949-2007 (Box 17-20; 2.5 linear feet)

Series 10: Printed Material, 1949-2007 (Box 20-24, 33; 3.7 linear feet)

Series 11: Photographs, circa 1930s-2006 (Box 24-25, 33; 1.5 linear feet)

Series 12: Artwork, circa 1939-1998 (Box 25; 11 folders)

Series 13: Audiovisual Material (Box 26-40; 11.1 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Dimitri Hadzi (1921-2006) was an Greek American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome from the 1950s to 1975, and then in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1975 to 2006. Born to Greek immigrants, Hadzi attended Brooklyn Technical High School before enlisting in the Army Air Force in 1942. After the World War II, Hadzi studied painting and sculpture at Cooper Union and graduated with honors in 1950. He was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to study at the Polytechnion, Athens, Greece, and subsequently moved to Rome where he remained until the mid-1970s. Hadzi worked mostly with stone and bronze, from which he created semi-abstract shapes and structures drawn from his Greek heritage. His work was selected for the Venice Biennale in 1956, and and his first solo-exhibition came two years later at the Galeria Schneider, Rome, Italy. Throughout his career, Hadzi held solo exhibitions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Philips Collection, Athens Gallery in Greece, Rikugie Gallery in Japan, and many others. His group exhibitions include Recent Sculptor USA (1959), Museum of Modern Art, New York; Annual Exhibition, The Whitney Museum (1961); Seven Sculptors at Harvard, Harvard University (1983); and American Academy of Arts & Letters Centennial Portfolio, Pace Prints, New York (1998). Hadzi's public commissions include those at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1963), St. Paul's Church, Rome, Italy (1966-1976), Dallas Center, Texas (1980). His artwork is held in permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Scultpure Garden, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Hakone Museum of Sculpture in Japan, and the Montreal Museum of Art, among others. Hadzi was professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University from 1975-1989, and was named Professor Emeritus in 1989.

Provenance:

Donated 1989 and 1998 by Dimitri Hadzi and in 2008 and 2011 by Cynthia Hadzi, Dimitri Hadzi's widow.

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:

Educators -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge  Search this

Sculptors -- Italy -- Rome  Search this

Sculptors -- Massachusetts -- Cambridge  Search this

Topic:

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

World War, 1939-1945  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Diaries

Motion picture film

Citation:

Dimitri Hadzi papers, 1910s-2003. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

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

Identifier:

AAA.hadzdimi

See more items in:

Dimitri Hadzi papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cee20746-bba7-4f55-9b4d-68aa26f19cc0

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-hadzdimi

Creator:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Bess, Forrest, 1911-1977  Search this

Congdon, William, 1912-1998  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Extent:

61.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Video recordings

Drawings

Date:

1916-1991

bulk 1946-1983

Summary:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 61.1 linear feet and date from 1916 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons's personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection.

Scope and Content Note:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 61.1 linear feet and date from 1916 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons's personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection. Personal papers also include personal photographs.

Artists files, the largest and most extensive series, consist of a wide variety of documents, including biographical materials, correspondence with or related to the artist, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales and expense invoices, clippings, price lists, and photographs of the artist, exhibitions, and artwork. The files reflect Parsons's close personal relationships with certain artists, particularly Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman. Extensive documentation is also found for Forrest Bess, William Congdon, Paul Feeley, Thomas George, Alexander Liberman, Seymour Lipton, Richard Pousette-Dart, Jesse Reichek, and Jack Youngerman. Historians and researchers will find these files to be an invaluable resource both in tracing Betty Parsons's role in promoting Abstract Expressionism and researching individual artists.

Exhibition files primarily document the gallery's infrequent group or themed exhibitions. Of particular note are the files on The Ideographic Picture, which was organized by Barnett Newman and included his work, as well as that of Pietro Lazzari, Boris Margo, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, and Clyfford Still. Price lists, artist biographies and exhibition schedules are housed in the general exhibition files. Loan exhibition files provide documentation of artwork borrowed by other galleries or institutions for exhibitions, as well as shows outside of the gallery that were organized by Betty Parsons. Also found are gallery exhibition guest books, and announcements and catalogs.

Gallery correspondence is primarily with galleries and dealers, museums, arts organizations, and collectors. Scattered letters from artists are also found, although the bulk of the artists' correspondence is filed in the Artists Files. Also found here are memoranda and letters between Betty Parsons and her staff that contain detailed information concerning Parsons's schedule and gallery activities. Similar correspondence is found amongst the correspondence files within the series Betty Parsons papers.

Appraisal and conservation files include correspondence, appraisal invoices, forms, and appraisal requests and other information from the Art Dealers Association of America, and conservation invoices and reports. The majority of the appraisal records contain information about the specific works of art, including artist, title, date, current owner and the estimated value at the time of the request. Conservation records document conservation treatments undertaken by outside conservators to gallery stock.

Sales, purchases, stock and inventory are well documented in the sales and inventory records. The records provide detailed information about individual sales, prices of individual pieces of artwork, consignments, and loans. Most sales records also include detailed information about the buyer and are a valuable resource for provenance research. Files documenting the general administration, routine business operations, and financial transactions (not individual sales) of the gallery are housed in the general business and financial records. These records include ledgers, receipts, tax records, and banking records. There is some limited information about works of art scattered amongst the receipts and in the "in/out slips" files. Legal records house general legal documents and those concerning specific lawsuits. Of particular note is the file detailing the lawsuit between Betty Parsons and Sidney Janis over the fifth floor of 24 West 57th Street.

The remainder of the collection consists of Betty Parsons's personal papers which document her career prior to opening her own gallery, her work as an artist, and her personal art collection.

Some information about Parsons's work prior to opening her own gallery is found in the early curatorial files she retained from her curatorial and administrative work at the Wakefield Gallery and the Mortimer Brandt Gallery. Clippings, correspondence, announcements, exhibition lists and exhibition files are found. For both positions, she kept only the exhibition files for a small group of exhibitions organized around a specific theme, the most notable being the exhibition of Pre-Columbian Sculpture at the Wakefield Gallery.

Biographical materials include copies of her biography, family genealogies, photographs of Parsons, interviews with Colette Roberts and WYNC radio, memberships, photographs, and ephemera, including a collection of programs and invitations from events that she attended. Throughout her life Parsons gave generously of her time to various cultural and charitable institutions and was awarded for her contributions. There are also a number of files that document her speaking engagements, her participation as a juror in numerous juried exhibitions, charitable work, and awards that she received.

Parsons's personal correspondence files reflect how deeply Parsons's life was intertwined with the gallery. There are letters from museum directors, dealers, artists seeking representation, and personal letters from artists with whom she had close personal relationships, most notably Larry Bigelow, Alexander Calder, William Condon, and Ad Reinhardt. There are also letters from the English artist Adge Baker, with whom Parsons was romantically involved. Correspondence also includes several files of postcards and Christmas cards.

Pocket diaries and engagement calendars, spanning from 1933-1981, record social engagements, meetings, vacations, and telephone numbers. Also found are circa two linear feet of notebooks and sketchbooks, many of which are annotated with addresses, poetry, journal entries, and other observations of people, places, and travels. Writings by others include writings about Betty Parsons or the Betty Parsons Gallery, such as Lawrence Alloway's unpublished typescript titled "An American Gallery" and other topics.

Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, art magazines, and newspaper and magazine clippings about Betty Parsons, her family and acquaintances, artists, and other art related topics, coupled with a miscellaneous selection of clippings, and a video recording, on topics that presumably captured Parsons's attention.

Personal art work records document Betty Parsons's career as an artist through inventories, group and solo exhibitions files, price lists, appraisals, sales and consignment invoices. Photographs are primarily reproductions of her works of art, although there are scattered photographs of exhibition installations.

Betty Parsons's private art collection files document her extensive personal collection of art that included works by Jackson Pollock, Agnes Martin, Romare Bearden, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, in addition to Amlash sculpture from ancient Persia and primitive sculpture from New Hebrides. These files include inventories, lists, exhibition records, sales and purchase invoices, and photographs. There are also files for donations and loans from Parsons's personal collection to museums and fund raising auctions for several non-profit institutions.

Finally, the personal financial records provide information about the Parsons's family finances and her personal financial success as an art dealer. In addition to her own investments, Parsons inherited shares in family investments through the estates of her parents, J. Fred Pierson, Jr. and Suzanne Miles Pierson, and younger sister, Emily Rayner. Real estate files include correspondence, utility bills, receipts, area maps, and land plots for houses in Sheepscot, Maine and St. Maartens, Netherlands Antilles. Tax returns, ledger worksheets, receipts, banking statements, deposit slips, and cancelled checks are among the other financial records.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as seven series. Many of the series are further divided into subseries.

Missing Title

Series 1: Artists Files, 1935-1983 (19.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-18, 51, 55-56, OVs 53, 65)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1941-1983 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 18-21, 51, 55, OVs 54, 66)

Series 3: Correspondence Files, 1941-1983 (3.9 linear feet; Boxes 21-24, 52, 56)

Series 4: Appraisal Files, 1954-1983 (0.7 linear feet; Box 24)

Series 5: Sales and Inventory Records, 1946-1983 (3.9 linear feet; Boxes 25-28, 51)

Series 6: General Business and Financial Records, 1946-1983 (9.3 linear feet; Boxes 28-38, 51, 56)

Series 7: Betty Parsons Personal Papers, 1916-1991 (21 linear feet; Boxes 38-51, 55-64, OVs 65-67)

Historical Note:

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was one of the leading art dealers in New York City specializing in modern art, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists, and an abstract painter and sculptor in her own right. She opened Betty Parsons Gallery in 1946 at 15 E. 57th St., later moving to 24 W. 57th St.

The history of the Betty Parsons Gallery is inextricably bound to the life and experiences of its founder. Betty Parsons was born Betty Bierne Pierson on January 31, 1900 in New York City. She enjoyed a privileged childhood, which included vacation homes in Newport and Palm Beach. Her only formal education was a five-year stint at the prestigious Chapin School from 1910-1915, where she met many of the women who would become life-long friends and supporters. In the spring of 1920, she married Schuyler Livingston Parsons from one of New York's oldest families. The marriage ended after only three years and the couple traveled to Paris where they could obtain a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. She retained her married surname and purchased a house on the rue Boulard in Paris, where she remained for ten years, pursuing studies in painting and sculpture.

Financial constraints forced Parsons to return to the United States in 1933. She first traveled west to California, but it was her return to New York in 1935 that marked the start of her career as an art dealer. Her first opportunity to connect with the New York art world came after a successful exhibition of her watercolors at the Midtown Galleries where the owner, Alan Gruskin, noted Parson's faithful and wealthy group of supporters and offered her work installing exhibitions and selling paintings on commission. Her work for the Midtown Galleries led to a second position in the Park Avenue gallery of Mary Sullivan, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. Here, Parsons learned the business of running a gallery. By 1940 Parsons was ready to take on more independent responsibility and agreed to manage a gallery within the Wakefield Bookshop. In this job, she exercised full curatorial control by selecting artists and organizing exhibitions. She championed then unknown contemporary American artists and the gallery's roster soon included Saul Steinberg, Hedda Sterne, Alfonso Ossorio, Joseph Cornell, Walter Murch, and Theodore Stamos. Although the majority of the exhibitions were solo shows, there were a few group shows and themed exhibitions, such as Love in Art (1941) and Ballet in Art (1942). Under Parson's direction, the gallery hosted an important exhibition of Pre-Columbian sculpture, curated by Barnett Newman.

When the owners of the Wakefield Bookshop decided to close the gallery late in 1944, Mortimer Brandt, a dealer who specialized in Old Master paintings and drawings, offered her a position as head of the newly created contemporary section of his gallery. Many of the artists who had shown with Parsons at the Wakefield Gallery followed her to her new gallery, where they were joined by Ad Reinhardt, Boris Mango, and Hans Hofmann. While the exhibitions garnered attention from the press and the interest of contemporary artists, the contemporary section was not a financial success and Brandt opted to close his gallery in 1946.

Using $1000 of her own money and an additional borrowed $4000, Parsons sublet the space that previously housed Mortimer Brandt's contemporary section, on the fifth floor of 15 East 57th Street, and opened the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In many respects the early years of the Betty Parsons Gallery were the most vital, as it was during the period of 1947-1951 that the gallery became linked with the Abstract Expressionists and the history of post-WWII American Art. In an unpublished history of the gallery, noted art critic Lawrence Alloway stated that the significance of the gallery's early exhibitions ranks with Durand-Ruel's Impressionists exhibitions or Kahnweiler's shows of the Cubists. Betty Parsons Gallery quickly became one of the most prestigious galleries in New York City associated with new American Art of all styles. Her close friend Barnett Newman organized the gallery's inaugural exhibition of Northwest Coast Indian Art and he soon began to exhibit his own work at the gallery. When Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery closed, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko joined Parsons' growing stable of artists. Although Parsons continued to promote and exhibit many of the artists whom she had previously discovered, these four artists dominated this period. Newman, Pollock, Still, and Rothko worked closely together, holding themselves apart from the other artists somewhat. They were actively involved in the curatorial process and often hung their own shows. For these artists, the exhibition itself was an artistic act of creation.

Parsons provided a supportive environment and allowed her artists enormous freedom in planning and designing their exhibitions. She was not, however, an aggressive salesperson. During this early period the gallery ledgers document sales to an impressive array of museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as important collectors such as Edward Root and Duncan Phillips. Nevertheless, the art that the gallery promoted was not yet widely accepted. Sales were few, prices were low and the business would not turn a profit for several years. Meanwhile, there was mounting pressure from Pollock, Newman, Still, and Rothko to drop some of the other artists from Parsons' stable and focus all resources on them. They wanted to be promoted to a larger audience and have their work sold at higher prices, but Parsons enjoyed discovering new artists and did not want to be restricted in this endeavor. The year 1951 marks the last time that Pollock's drip paintings or the monumental works of Newman, Rothko or Still were shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In the following years the Betty Parsons Gallery continued to attract a diverse group of talented artists. Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Tuttle, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jack Youngerman had their first New York exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Parsons opened Section Eleven in 1958, a short-lived annex to the main gallery, so that she could promote younger, less well-known artists. It closed in 1960 due to the administrative difficulties in running two essentially separate galleries.

In 1962, Sidney Janis, another prominent art dealer, started proceedings to evict Parsons from the floor that they shared on 15 East 57th Street. The Betty Parsons Gallery moved to 24 West 57th Street in 1963, where it remained until it closed in 1983, following Parsons' death the preceding year. Throughout the gallery's history, Parsons continued to promote faithful artists such as Hedda Sterne and Saul Steinberg, who had been with her from the beginning and to seek out new talent, both for her main gallery and for other venues, such as the short-lived Parsons-Truman Gallery, which she opened in 1974 with former Parsons Gallery director Jock Truman to show works on paper by emerging artists.

In addition to being an art dealer, Betty Parsons was a respected artist and collector. With her connoisseur's eye and connections, Parsons amassed an impressive private collection of art. She bought her first piece while an art student in Paris in the 1920s, a small gouache by Zadkine, but did not begin acquiring works in earnest until she was established as an art dealer. Partial inventories of her personal collection show that the majority of her collection contained works by artists associated with the gallery. Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Ad Reinhardt, Agnes Martin, and Kenzo Okada were among the artists represented. Many were gifts from the artists, such as an ink drawing by Jackson Pollock, inscribed "For Betty." Selections from her collection appeared in small museums across the United States, including a traveling exhibition organized by Fitch College, New York, in 1968. In her role as a promoter of contemporary American art, Parsons lent generously from her collection, particularly to the federal Art in the Embassies Program. Throughout her life she also donated works to a variety of museums, most notably, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

Parsons frequently claimed that her desire to pursue a career as an artist stemmed from a visit to the Armory Show when she was thirteen. In her late teens, after pressuring her father for art lessons, she studied with the sculptor Gutzon Burglum of Mount Rushmore fame. In Paris, she continued her studies first with Antoine Bourdelle, whose sculptures she had admired at the Armory Show, and later with Ossip Zadkine. The first exhibition of her work, figurative watercolors and sculptures, took place in Paris in 1927. As she matured as an artist, her art became more abstract. Her late works were painted wood sculptures that she pieced together from wood that she found near her studio in Long Island. Parsons's work was exhibited in more than thirty solo exhibitions, including, Betty Parsons; Paintings, Gouaches and Sculpture, 1955-1968, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. During her lifetime, she would not allow her works to be shown in her own gallery. Shortly after she died of a stroke in 1982, In Memoriam, Betty Parsons: Late Sculptures, opened at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

Related Material:

Also found in the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Betty Parsons, June 4-9, 1969, by Paul Cummings, and June 11, 1981 by Gerald Silk.

Separated Material:

Some of the material originally loaned for microfilming in 1968 and 1969 was not included in later donations and can be viewed on microfilm reels N68/62-N68/74 and N69/105-N69/106. Loaned materials are not described in the container listing in this finding aid.

Provenance:

The gallery donated some records in 1974, many of which had been loaned earlier for microfilming. The bulk of the collection was donated in 1984 and 1986 by William Rayner and Christopher Schwabacher, executors of the Estate of Betty Parsons. Additional material was donated by William Rayner in 1998 and Christopher Schwabacher in 2017. Additional material was donated in 2018 by the Lee Hall estate via Carolyn Crozier and Deborah Jacobson, co-executors. Hall was Parsons's biographer and had the material in her possession at the time of Parsons's death. An additional photograph of Parons and Marie Carr Taylor by Henri Cartier-Bresson was donated in 2021 by Mary Carpenter, who inherited the photograph from her mother, Nan Thorton Jones, who received it as a gift from Taylor.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

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

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Gallery owners -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

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

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

Topic:

Women art dealers  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Abstract expressionist  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Video recordings

Drawings

Citation:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, 1916-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.parsbett

See more items in:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw956c1036f-b673-4dc1-8c1b-cde0bd641c60

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-parsbett

Interviewee:

Castanis, Muriel, 1926-2006  Search this

Interviewer:

Holmes, Doloris  Search this

Subject:

Women Artists in Revolution  Search this

Type:

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Muriel Castanis, 1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Theme:

Women  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)13002

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214188

AAA_collcode_castan71

Theme:

Women

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_214188

Creator:

Boris Mirski Gallery (Boston, Mass.)  Search this

Names:

Aronson, David, 1923-2015  Search this

Baskin, Leonard, 1922-2000  Search this

Bloom, Hyman, 1913-  Search this

Geller, Esther  Search this

Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964  Search this

Mazur, Michael, 1935-2009  Search this

Mirski, Boris, 1898-1974  Search this

Polonsky, Arthur  Search this

Shahn, Ben, 1898-1969  Search this

Siporin, Mitchell, 1910-1976  Search this

Swan, Barbara, 1922-  Search this

Zerbe, Karl, 1903-1972  Search this

Extent:

6.2 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Photographs

Date:

circa 1936-2000

bulk 1945-1972

Summary:

The Boris Mirski Gallery records measure 6.2 linear feet and date from 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972. They include gallery administrative files; artist files including correspondence, exhibition and loan paperwork as well as photographic documentation of artwork; gallery correspondence; financial materials including outgoing and incoming invoices and sales records; printed materials promoting the gallery and its artists; press materials; and a number of photographs of Boris Mirski at events and with others, as well as photographs of artwork. Artists particularly well represented in the collection include David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.

Scope and Contents:

The records of the Boris Mirski Gallery, which showed the avant-garde art of the Boston Expressionist school, as well as New York and international modern art styles and non-western art, measure 6.2 linear feet and date from 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972. They include gallery administrative files; artist files including correspondence, exhibition and loan paperwork as well as photographic documentation of artwork; gallery correspondence; financial materials including outgoing and incoming invoices and sales records; printed materials promoting the gallery and its artists; press materials; and a number of photographs of Boris Mirski at events and with others, as well as photographs of artwork. Artists particularly well represented in the collection include David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.

The administrative files cover a number of topics including documents related to various properties, mortgages, and insurance, copyrights, legal cases, administrative events, and select group exhibitions at the gallery.

The artist files document each gallery artist's exhibition history in the gallery and include correspondence with the artist as well as files documenting significant outside exhibitions, projects and the placement of artworks. While exhibiting artists showed a range of sculpture, painting, and drawing at the gallery, there was a tendency towards highly expressive figurative artwork sometimes referred to as Boston Expressionism, often associated with the first generation Jewish American experience.

The gallery correspondence, primarily with patrons and institutions, is arranged alphabetically with select regular correspondents of the gallery having their own file, in addition to a folder of holiday cards.

The financial files include both outgoing and incoming transactions as invoices and sales records, organized by patron or vendor.

The printed materials are a records of the printing activities of the gallery as well as a press archive, with select printed materials from outside the gallery reflecting the activities of the gallery and gallery artists.

The photographic materials include both images that include the gallerist as well as images that document artworks.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 6 series.

Series 1: Administrative Files, circa 1948-1995 (0.5 Linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Artist Files, circa 1945-2000 (2.7 Linear feet; Boxes 1-4, OV 7)

Series 3: Gallery Correspondence, circa 1936-1976 (1 Linear feet; Boxes 4-5)

Series 4: Financial Files, circa 1958-1974 (1.2 Linear feet; Boxes 5-6)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1944-1981 (0.7 Linear feet; Box 6, OV 8)

Series 6: Photographic Material, circa 1945-1976 (0.1 Linear feet; Box 6)

Biographical / Historical:

The Boris Mirski Gallery (est.1944; closed 1979) was a gallery in Boston, Massachusetts owned and operated by Boris Mirski (1898-1974). The gallery evolved out of various businesses owned by Mirski from the late 1910s, including his first formal gallery established alongside a framing shop on Charles Street in Beacon Hill in 1927. The gallery moved to its final incarnation on the lower level of 166 Newbury in 1972, and closed in 1979 following the gallerist's death in 1974.

Boris Chaim Mirski, born 1898, immigrated to the United States at the age of fourteen, leaving behind his troubled youth as a Lithuanian Jew in a harsh political climate that included frequent pogroms. At the advice of his mother, an activist in the resistance, Boris acquired a number of marketable skills including metalwork and framing, which allowed him to establish a lucrative business while he developed opportunities to show art that interested him. Early in his career this included a home for non-western and "primitive" art styles from around the globe, as well as the work of emerging local artists. Mirski's gallery created opportunities for artists working against the generally conservative tradition of the Boston School, and helped establish an identity for the local avant-garde. The gallery program had strong ties with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston alumni and faculty, and frequently hosted exchange shows with New York City's Downtown Gallery, whose director Edith Halpert acted as a mentor. While exhibiting artists showed a range of sculpture, painting, and drawing at the gallery, there was a tendency towards highly expressive figurative artwork sometimes referred to as Boston Expressionism, often associated with the first generation Jewish American experience. Gallery artists included David Aronson, Leonard Baskin, Hyman Bloom, Esther Geller, Rico Lebrun, Michael Mazur, Arthur Polonsky, Ben Shahn, Mitchell Siporin, Barbara Swan, and Karl Zerbe.

Related Materials:

Related materials include Archives of American Art's Oral history interview with Boris Mirski, 1973 June 19.

Provenance:

The Boris Mirski Gallery records were donated by Deborah Mirski Brown, Boris Mirski's daughter from 1989-1996, with additions in 2007 and 2017.

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.

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:

Expressionism (Art)  Search this

Jewish artists  Search this

Modernism (Art)  Search this

New York school of art  Search this

Sculptors  Search this

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- Massachusetts

Genre/Form:

Photographs

Citation:

Boris Mirski Gallery records, 1936-2000, bulk 1945-1972. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.mirsbori

See more items in:

Boris Mirski Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97a5810a0-f6bb-4929-9fa5-c484ee8c9cdc

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-mirsbori

Creator:

Harmon, Lily, 1912-  Search this

Names:

Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981  Search this

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

Nierendorf, Karl  Search this

Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963  Search this

Schmid, Elsa, 1897-  Search this

Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this

Warburg, Edward M. M.  Search this

Interviewee:

Ashton, Dore  Search this

Avery, Sally  Search this

Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this

Bruno, Phillip A.  Search this

Copley, Alfred L.  Search this

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this

Drew, Bettina, 1956-  Search this

Driggs, Elsie, 1898-1992  Search this

Hertzberg, Benjamin  Search this

Hutton, Leonard, Sir  Search this

Isaacs, Lewis  Search this

Kahn, Max, 1903-2005  Search this

Knotts, Howard  Search this

Kuh, Katharine  Search this

Lamm, Johanna Neumann  Search this

Manacher, Frances  Search this

Neumann, Albrecht  Search this

Neumann, Peter, 1928-  Search this

Rothbaum, Nolbert  Search this

Sapanel, Margarete  Search this

Schultz, Margarete  Search this

Solman, Joseph, 1909-2008  Search this

Stix, Hugh  Search this

Vogel, Ilse Margret  Search this

Extent:

6 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Date:

1930-1996

Scope and Contents:

Primarily research files and notes, subject files, interview tapes and transcripts, correspondence, writings, and other materials compiled by Harmon for a never-published biography of art dealer J.B. Neumann, titled The Art Lover. Found are photocopies of J.B. Neuman's correspondence with Karl Nierendorf, Clifford Odets, Elsa Schmid, and Alfred Stieglitz; photocopies and other materials from the J.B. Neumann Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Center, including photocopies of the magazine published by Neumann titled Art Lover Library, 1930-1957 (volume 1, 1930 is original bound volume), copyprints and photocopies of photographs of Neumann, his family, and of other subjects; interview transcripts and audio tapes with numerous artists conducted in the mid-1980s; research notes and files; and subject files on numerous artists (all photocopies).

Harmon's personal papers include resumes; copies of letters from friends, family, dealers and others; photographs of Harmon's paintings; writings, including poems, excerpts from diaries, autobiographical essays, and her autobiography FREEHAND; photocopies of various mss. drafts of Harmon's biography of Neumann, The Art Lover, and related writings by Harmon, including The Art Dealer and the Playwright, and Synopsis of Art Lover, ca. 1987-1990 ; a transcript of an interview of Harmon conducted by Karl Fortress, 1967; magazine and newspaper clippings; exhibition announcements and catalogs; and miscellany.

Interviewees include: Dore Ashton, Sally Avery, Alfred Barr, Phillip Bruno, Al Copley, Dorothy Dehner, Bettina Drew (about Nelson Algren), Elsie Driggs (also found is a video interview and transcript of Driggs by Merryman Gatch, n.d.), Ben Hertzberg, Leonard Hutton, Lewis Isaacs, Max Kahn, Katharine Kuh, Johanna Neumann Lamm, Frances Manacher, Peter Neumann, Albrecht Neumann, Nolbert Rothbaum, Margarete Schultz, Joseph Solman, Margarete Sapanel, Hugh Stix, Ilse Vogel with Howard Knotts, and Edward M.M. Warburg.

Biographical / Historical:

Painter and sculptor; New York City. Harmon worked for the influential art dealer J.B. Neumann, and spent several years preparing a biography of him which was never published. As an artist, she lived in Europe in the early part of the century, and worked on WPA art projects in the 1930s.

Provenance:

Donated 1983 and 1998 by Lily Harmon.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.

Occupation:

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

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

Topic:

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Identifier:

AAA.harmlily

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f94dc6db-1401-409d-b617-4439c4f8fb03

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-harmlily

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

Creator:

Kroll, Leon, 1884-1974  Search this

Names:

Beal, Gifford, 1879-1956  Search this

Biddle, George, 1885-1973  Search this

Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1988  Search this

Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943  Search this

Faulkner, Barry, 1881-1966  Search this

Glackens, William J., 1870-1938  Search this

Henri, Robert, 1865-1929  Search this

Langsam, Julie  Search this

Manship, Paul, 1885-1966  Search this

Nichols, Hobart, 1869-1962  Search this

Speicher, Eugene Edward, 1883-1962  Search this

Sterne, Maurice, 1878-1957  Search this

Williams, Esther, 1907-1969  Search this

Extent:

8.7 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Drawings

Date:

circa 1900-1988

Summary:

The papers of realist painter, muralist, and educator Leon Kroll date from circa 1900 to 1988 and measure 8.7 linear feet. The collection documents Kroll's painting career, teaching, and active participation in numerous art organizations. Over one-half of the collection is correspondence with artists, schools, galleries, museums, patrons, arts organizations, and others. Also found are scattered biographical material, writings and notes, legal and financial records, exhibition catalogs, clippings, other printed material, photographs of Kroll and colleagues, loose drawings and nine sketchbooks.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of realist painter, muralist, and art instructor Leon Kroll date from circa 1900 to 1988 and measure 8.7 linear feet. The collection documents Kroll's painting career, teaching, and active participation in numerous art organizations. Over one-half of the collection is correspondence with artists, schools, galleries, museums, patrons, arts organizations, family members, and others. Also found are scattered biographical material, writings and notes, legal and financial records, exhibition catalogs, clippings, other printed material, photographs of Kroll and colleagues, loose drawings, and nine sketchbooks.

Biographical material contains chronologies, biographical essays, awards, price lists, interview transcripts, and a file about the Committee on Government and Art. More than one-half of the collection consists of Kroll's personal and professional correspondence with artists such as Gifford Beal, George Biddle, Isabel Bishop, Barry Faulkner, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Paul Manship, Hobart Nichols, Eugene Speicher, Maurice Stern, Esther Williams, and many others. Additional correspondence is with art critics, curators, dealers, students, patrons, schools, museums, and numerous arts organizations. There is also extensive correspondence with arts administrators regarding government art projects, especially his friend and fellow artist Edward Bruce, Director of the U. S. Treasury Department's Section for Fine Arts.

Writings and notes by Leon Kroll including autobiographical essays, drafts of lectures and speeches, lists, and other scattered notes. Also found is a small amount of writings by others, including an essay by Julia Langsam describing her experience as an artist's model for Kroll. Legal and financial records include contracts, loan agreements, art sales receipts, and several ledgers recording consignments and monthly receipts and expenditures. One ledger specifically documents financial transactions for Kroll's mural commissions for the Justice Department and the Worcester War Memorial.

Printed material contains numerous news clippings about Kroll and his work and includes several articles written by Kroll. Also found are exhibition announcements and catalogs for Kroll's solo exhibitions, material about the Worcester War memorial, and miscellaneous printed items.

Photographs include one of Kroll with his family, Kroll in his studio and working on murals, and several of him with other artists as jurors for art exhibitions. Artists pictured include Isabel Bishop, Reginal Marsh, John Sloan, Raphael Soyer, Eugene Speicher, and others. Also found are photographs of Edward Bruce, as well as photographs of exhibitions, artwork by Leon Kroll, and artwork by others. All of the original artwork in this collection is by Leon Kroll and includes loose drawings and ten sketchbooks containing drawings of landscapes, figures, portraits, and animals.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1906-1977 (Boxes 1, 7; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1905-1988 (Boxes 1-4, 7; 3.8 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1920s-1972 (Box 4-5, 7; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 4: Legal and Financial Records, circa 1914-1985 (Boxes 5, 7; 1.0 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1920s-1987 (Boxes 5-6, 8-9; 0.7 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographs, circa 1900-1979 (Boxes 6, 8-10; 1.7 linear feet)

Series 7: Artwork, circa 1910-1950s (Boxes 6, 8; 0.4 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Leon Kroll (1884-1974) was a leading realist painter during the 1920s and 1930s.

Born in New York City, Kroll attended classes at the Art Students League as a teenager, and studied painting with John Henry Twachtman. In the early 1900s he began taking classes at the National Academy of Design, where he won student prizes, and had his first major exhibition in 1906. In 1908 he won a scholarship to study art in Paris and attended the Académie Julian, studying at the atelier of Jean-Paul Laurens. Through he practiced realism, Kroll was also influenced by French impressionist painters, specifically Paul Cézanne. While in Paris he also met Genevieve (Viette) Domec. They married later in 1923 and had one daughter, Marie-Claude.

Upon his return to New York in 1910, Kroll had a one man show of his Paris work at the National Academy where he received critical acclaim. The next year he began teaching at the National Academy of Design. During his career, he also taught at the Maryland Institute, Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and was a guest instructor and lecturer at several other schools.

Kroll was part of a circle of New York artists that included several members of "The Eight", and he was especially close with Robert Henri, William Glackens, George Bellows, and Eugene Speicher. During his time in Europe he also became friends with Marc Chagall and Robert and Sonia Delaunay. He exhibited at the Armory Show in 1913 and during the next few decades won numerous major national and international prizes in painting, including first prize at the 1936 Carnegie International Exhibition. He had his first retrospective exhibition at the Worcester Art Museum in 1937. Kroll was especially known for his paintings of female nudes, but also painted New York City street scenes, New England landscapes, and portraits. Beginning in the late 1930s he was commissioned to paint murals at public buildings including, among others, the U. S. Department of Justice Building, the war memorial in Worcester, Massachusetts, and the auditorium at Johns Hopkins University.

Throughout his career Kroll was a very active member of professional arts organizations. He was an Associate and later a Academician at the National Academy of Design, and his memberships included the New Society of Artists; American Society of Painters, Sculptors, and Gravers; Artists Equity Association; Four Arts Aid Association; and the National Institute of Arts and Letters among others. He also served as a board officer for many of these organizations. Kroll was active in the federal arts programs from the 1930s to the 1950s and close friends with Edward Bruce, director of the U.S. Treasury Department's Section for Fine Arts.

Kroll maintained a studio in New York City and spent summers at his home and studio at Folly Cove, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Leon Kroll died in 1974 at the age of 89.

Provenance:

Leon Kroll donated a portion of his papers in 1968. His widow, Genevieve Kroll, donated the rest of the papers in 1976. Two additions were donated in 2019, via Cory Churches and the Estate of Grace Pugh, both descendants of Kroll.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

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

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

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

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Drawings

Citation:

Leon Kroll papers, circa 1900-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

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

Identifier:

AAA.krolleon

See more items in:

Leon Kroll papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9795a1261-7717-4f72-baff-b0ec0f55b003

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-krolleon

Creator:

Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art  Search this

Names:

Marks, Ben  Search this

Plagens, Peter  Search this

Smith, Robert Lewis  Search this

Spence, Judy  Search this

Extent:

18.9 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Photographs

Slides (photographs)

Date:

1973-1988

Summary:

The records of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art measure 18.9 linear feet, date from 1973 to 1988, and document the brief thirteen-year history of LAICA's activities as a Southern California visual arts organization and exhibition space for contemporary art. Records detail the founding of the organization, operations and administration, exhibitions, events, and publications. More than half of the collection is comprised of exhibition, program, and event files that include correspondence with artists, curators, and others; printed materials; and photographs, negatives, and slides. There is a 0.9 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes slides; performance and exhibition notes and supplements; newsletters and other printed material; a chronology of exhibitions, projects, publications and activities. Materials date from 1974- 1987.

Scope and Content Note:

The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records measure 18.9 linear feet, date from 1973 to 1988, and document the founding of the organization, board activities, general operations and administration, exhibitions, programs, events, and publications. There is a 0.9 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2021 that includes slides; performance and exhibition notes and supplements; newsletters and other printed material; a chronology of exhibitions, projects, publications and activities. Materials date from 1974- 1987.

Founding documents and Board of Director's files contained in the collection include the articles of confederation, by-laws, constitution, director's reports, board meeting minutes, and scattered correspondence of Peter Plagens and Judy Spence, both of whom served as Chair of the Board. These records detail the mission, organization, objectives, and goals of LAICA.

More than half of the records are comprised of exhibition, program, and event files covering LAICA's entire history of operation. Included are exhibition announcements and catalogs; correspondence with artists, curators, and organizers; press releases and other publicity; grant applications and proposals; and photographs, contact sheets, negatives, and slides which depict the exhibition's installation and works of art.

Two series of photographs and slides provide additional visual documentation of LAICA's exhibitions and events, including the installations and work of LAICA's Artists-in-Residence program. Slides depicting LAICA's buildings, offices, and staff activities are also found.

LAICA's production of its publications, including material related to their regular periodical, Journal, is well-documented through correspondence, manuscripts, and editorial files. Also found are unedited transcripts of interviews and material that was not used for publication. Meeting minutes and correspondence represent the activities of the publication committee from the mid 1970s to 1987.

The correspondence of LAICA directors Robert Smith (18 folders) and Ben Marks (one folder) contain information on almost all of the organization's activities, including exhibitions, events, funding, staffing, and general operations. General Operations files include Administrative Files and Financial Files that document members and donors, staff, financial activities, fundraising efforts, income, expenses, and grants.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 9 series.

Slides were separated from Series 1-6, and filed in Series 8 for better preservation housing.

Missing Title

Series 1: Board of Directors, 1973-1987 (Box 1; 0.5 linear feet )

Series 2: Correspondence, early 1970s-1987 (Boxes 1-2; 0.75 linear feet )

Series 3: General Operations, 1974-1988, undated (Boxes 2-3; 1.25 linear feet)

Series 4: Publicity, 1974-1986 (Box 3; 15 folders)

Series 5: Exhibitions and Programs, 1974-1987 (Boxes 3-13; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 6: Publications, 1974-1987 (Boxes 13-15; 2.75 linear feet)

Series 7: Photographs, mid-1970s-1983 (Box 15; 11 folders)

Series 8: Slides, 1974-1987 (Boxes 16-18; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, 1974-1987 (Boxes 19-21, 0.9 linear feet)

Historical Note:

The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art was formed between 1973-1974 to provide a permanent exhibition venue for the visual contemporary arts in the Los Angeles area. The founding principle was to establish an arts organization that operated democratically and spoke with a multiplicity of voices. In order to remain flexible and minimize operating expense, LAICA did not establish a permanent collection.

Members of the Board of Directors included Peter Alexander, John Baldessari, Rosamund Felsen, Peter Plagens, Judy Spence, and other artists, gallery owners, and members of the art community. Committees that supervised exhibition programming and LAICA's published Journal were elected by members, and the duties of exhibition curator and periodical editor rotated among members, rather than being the responsibility of permanent staff. A registry of slides and biographical materials, begun in 1971, was open to submission by any Southern California artist. LAICA's first exhibitions were held in the fall of 1974, under founding director Robert Smith, a former curator at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale, California. The first issue of Journal was published in June of the same year.

LAICA's first exhibition space consisted of 4,200 square feet on the fifth floor of the Century City complex. During the mid-1970s, the organization hosted numerous exhibitions and events - all were were well attended, despite the lack of parking and restrooms. Exhibitions focused on a wide variety of contemporary painting, sculpture, decorative arts, fashion, performance art, video, music, architecture, social issues, and public art. Exhibitions were curated by both LAICA staff and guest curators, including Walter Hopps. Desiring to expand their space, LAICA had hopes of Frank Gehry redesigning the Century City space. The institute, however, was forced to relocate after losing their lease.

In March of 1977, LAICA reopened in an 8,000 square foot facility on 2020 South Robertson Boulevard. In addition to their public programming, the organization created an Artist-in-Residence program with funding made available by the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA). By the end of the 1970s, LAICA was flourishing with increased budget and staff, and, by 1980, opened a second exhibition space at 815 Traction Avenue, referred to as the "Downtown Gallery." An additional storefront exhibition space in the Eastern Columbia building was donated by State Senator Alan Sieroty.

A decrease in public funding in the early 1980s forced LAICA to cut some of its public programs. The organization, however, still staged ambitious exhibitions, including one of contemporary Italian art that traveled to nine different venues, and a show of nine contemporary Australian artists in connection with the 1984 Olympics Art Festival.

Robert Smith resigned from his position as director in early 1985. Ben Marks, the former director of the Center of Contemporary Art in Seattle, was hired that summer. By March of 1986, however, Marks had resigned and the Board of Directors decided to sell LAICA's South Robertson location. Faced with financial burdens and the lack of a permanent exhibition space, LAICA staged exhibits at temporary spaces around Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art officially closed in 1987 after thirteen years of operation.

Related Material:

Found in the Archives of American Art are the Peter Plagens papers, 1941-1987, which include meeting minutes and correspondence relating to LAICA.

Provenance:

The bulk of the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records were donated by Judy Spence, the former Chair of the LAICA Board of Directors, in 1986. Additional material was donated in 1997 by her husband, Stuart Spence and in 2021 by Robert Smith, founding director of LAICA.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Painters  Search this

Topic:

Sculptors  Search this

Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Photographers  Search this

Function:

Art centers -- California

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Photographs

Slides (photographs)

Citation:

Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records, 1973-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Getty Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.losangin

See more items in:

Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a3d39c03-5a63-4b67-b34f-40bbb63cb13c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-losangin

Creator:

Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991  Search this

Names:

Blume, Peter, 1906-1992  Search this

Grooms, Mimi Gross  Search this

Newman, Arnold, 1918-2006  Search this

Robbins, Warren M.  Search this

Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987  Search this

Extent:

21.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Motion pictures (visual works)

Date:

1920-2004

Summary:

The papers of New York City sculptor and teacher Chaim Gross measure 21.1 linear feet and date from 1920-2004. The collection provides comprehensive documentation of Gross's career through biographical material, personal and professional correspondence with family, artists, writers, galleries, museums, educational institutions, and religious and philanthropic organizations, writings, personal business records, extensive printed and published material including motion picture film and video recordings of four documentaries, one hundred and fifteen sketchbooks spanning the bulk of Gross's career, and photographs of Gross, his family, many friends and colleagues from the art world, his studio, personal art collection, and works of art. An unprocessed addition of three sketchbooks was donated in 2020.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York City sculptor and teacher Chaim Gross measure 21.1 linear feet and date from 1920-2004. The collection provides comprehensive documentation of Gross's career through biographical material, personal and professional correspondence with family, artists, writers, galleries, museums, educational institutions, and religious and philanthropic organizations, writings, personal business records, extensive printed and published material including motion picture film and video recordings of four documentaries, one hundred and fifteen sketchbooks spanning the bulk of Gross's career, and photographs of Gross, his family, many friends and colleagues from the art world, his studio, personal art collection, and works of art.

Biographical material includes records collated to document awards and honors given to Gross documenting the recognition he received for his lifelong achievements in the last two decades of his career, including from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the National Academy of Design. The series also includes Gross's birth certificate printed in 1920, some biographical notes and resumes prior to the 1970s, documentation of Gross's business and personal contacts through addresses and business cards, and a motion picture film of a documentary about Gross, Art and the Model, made in 1976 by Thea Bay and edited by Bob Worth.

Personal and professional correspondence constitutes the largest series in the collection and documents all aspects of Gross's prolific career including: personal letters from friends and family such as daughter Mimi Gross and Red Grooms; professional correspondence with galleries, museums, and other art institutions including the Jewish Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Whitney Museum of American Art; correspondence documenting commissions, loans, and sales of Gross's artwork through galleries including Forum Gallery; and correspondence with synagogues including International Synagogue, Temple Sharaay Tefila, and Temple Sinai, Pittsburgh, and multiple other Jewish organizations such as Hadassah and State of Israel Bonds. Correspondence also documents publications by and about Gross including letters from Abe Lerner, the Jewish Publication Society of America, Chaim Potok, and Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; Gross's work as a teacher including at the Educational Alliance and the New School for Social Research; and the significance of Gross's personal collection of African art through correspondence with Warren M. Robbins, the Smithsonian Museum of African Art, and others. Gross's work for the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project and Treasury Relief Project, as well as for the 1939 World's Fair, is also documented in this series and includes contracts and correspondence with Ed Rowan.

Correspondence includes many letters from artist friends and colleagues including Isabel Bishop, Peter Blume, Eliot Elisofon, Eugenie Gershoy, Milton Hebald, Lewis Jacobs, Karl Knaths, Arnold Newman, Elias Newman, Saul Rosen, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, Nicholas Sperakis, William and Marguerite Zorach, and many others. Writers and scholars who corresponded with Gross include Samuel French Morse, Jack C. Rich, Shea Tenenbaum, Roberta Tarbell, and others.

Writings primarily consist of a partial draft of Gross's book The Technique of Wood Sculpture but also include a copy of his first published article in 1938 in the American Federation of Arts Magazine of Art, and a few short writings by Gross on other artists. Writings by others include a memoir of Gross's boyhood written by his brother, poet Naftoli Gross.

Gross's personal business records are scattered, as many transactional records are included with his correspondence. They do include lists of Gross's artwork and his personal art collection, two agreements for rights to use his work, appraisals of twelve of his works of art, and receipts of consignments, sales, loans, and gifts of artwork.

Printed material is a comprehensive and substantial record of Gross's exhibitions, and his prolific engagement in the arts and his community throughout his long career. This series includes announcements and catalogs for many of his exhibitions, brochures and programs for art organizations for which he exhibited, taught, donated to, or was otherwise represented in, notably the Educational Alliance, the New School for Social Research, the Sculptors Guild, Inc., and numerous other private and public museums, galleries, and institutions. Also found is circa one linear foot of clippings about Gross that span his career from newspapers, magazines, and journals, including some Hebrew and Yiddish publications. The series also houses video recordings of the documentaries Tree Trunk to Head and A Sculptor Speaks, and an NBC broadcast of an interview with Gross entitled The Two Chaims, as the motion picture film, A Sculptor Speaks.

Sketchbooks provide a unique visual record of Gross's development and the shifting focus of his subject matter from 1933 to right before his death in 1991. They record his early subjects of acrobatic models, family bonds, and landscapes, and the emergence of darker "fantasy" drawings in the wake of the Holocaust and World War II which brought the news of the murder of his brother and sister and her family by the Nazis. The sketchbooks document Gross's travels abroad during the 1960s, and his incorporation of Jewish iconography and Old Testament themes in the 1960s and 1970s. They also illustrate how the constant theme of the celebration of the human form persisted in his work to the end of his life.

Photographs of people and events, although only measuring 0.7 linear feet, provide a rich visual record of Gross's life and his professional and personal relationships from the time he arrived in the United States in 1920 to the late 1980s. The earliest photographs picture Gross with his brothers and with new friends at the Educational Alliance including Moses and Raphael Soyer, Peter Blume, and Elias Newman. There are many photographs of Gross working in his studios, and at the Bedi-Makky Art Foundry in Brooklyn, photographs taken at parties, exhibition openings, receptions, and other events, and photographs of Gross's art collection and exhibition installations. Photographs picture artists such as Hyman Brown, Jose de Creeft, Joseph Hirsch, Moses Soyer, and Raphael Soyer; and gallery owners and collectors including Bella Fishko, Joseph Hirshhorn, Sidney Janis, and Warren M. Robbins. The series also houses photographs of works of art, primarily sculpture, executed by Gross between 1922 and 1987.

An unprocessed addition of three sketchbooks was donated in 2020.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as eight series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1920-circa 1991 (0.35 linear feet; Box 1, FC23)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1926-1997 (8.75 linear feet; Boxes 1-9, 22)

Series 3: Writings and Notes, 1938-circa 1980s (0.25 linear feet; Boxes 9-10)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, circa 1936-1982 (0.25 linear feet; Box 10)

Series 5: Printed Material, 1925-2004 (3.7 linear feet; Boxes 10-14, 22, FC 24)

Series 6: Sketchbooks, 1933-1991 (6.1 linear feet; Boxes 14-19, 22)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1921-circa 1990s (1.5 linear feet; Boxes 20-22)

Series 8: Unprocessed Addition, 1949-1951 (0.2 linear feet; Box 25)

Biographical / Historical:

New York City sculptor and teacher Chaim Gross (1904-1991) is considered one of America's foremost sculptors, known for his semi-abstract bronzes celebrating the human form, and his pioneering work in direct wood carving. Gross taught for over fifty years at the Educational Alliance Art School and for forty years at the New School for Social Research.

Born in 1904 in Wolowa, Galicia, in what is now the Ukraine, Gross studied at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest in 1919 and at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna in 1920 before immigrating to New York in 1921. He attended the Lower East Side Educational Art School in New York City from 1921-1927 where he began lifelong friendships with artists Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, Peter Blume and other important twentieth century artists. Gross also studied with Elie Nadelman at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and Robert Laurent at the Art Students League. He began teaching at the Educational Alliance in 1927 where his students included Louise Nevelson.

Gross married Renee Nechin in 1932 and they had two children, Yehuda and Miriam (Mimi). Mimi Gross is a New York-based artist who was married to artist Red Grooms from 1963-1976.

Gross's first solo exhibition was held at Gallery 144 in New York City in 1932, and he began to develop a reputation as a major contemporary sculptor when he joined the Federal Art Project in 1934 and won a commission from the Treasury Department competition for art works for public buildings in 1936. His projects included relief panels for the Federal Trade Commission building in Washington, D. C., and a large-scale family group for the France Overseas and Finnish Buildings at the 1939 New York World's Fair. In 1938 Gross founded the Sculptors Guild with William Zorach and served as the guild's first president. His work began to be acquired by major American museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art which in 1939 awarded Gross a $3000 purchase prize for his wood sculpture of circus performer Lillian Leitzel.

In 1938 filmmaker Lewis Jacobs produced a thirty minute film, Tree Trunk to Head, of Gross carving a wood sculpture of Renee Gross in his studio. Lewis subsequently produced a seventeen minute film, The Sculptor Speaks, of Gross working in his studio in 1957. That same year Gross published an influential how-to book The Technique of Wood Sculpture, featuring photographs by Eliot Elisofon.

Much of Gross's early work focused on performers such as acrobats and dancers, family groups, and the mother and child bond. The bulk of his work was in wood, particularly hardwoods with a dark or pronounced grain. In the 1940s, after hearing that his brother Pincus and sister Sarah and her family had been murdered by the Nazis, Gross devoted time daily to sketching in his notebooks, producing a visual diary of the emotional trauma involved in processing their horrific fate and navigating his own grief. A collection of the drawings was published in Chaim Gross: Fantasy Drawings (Beechurst Press) in 1956. Gross carved My Sister Sarah – in Memoriam (no. 36) in 1947 and made the first of seven trips to Israel in 1949.

By the late 1950s Gross was working less in direct carving and was focusing primarily on modeling in plaster on an armature for casting in bronze. In 1957 and 1959 he traveled to Rome, Italy, and worked with the Nicci Foundry. Bella Fishko began representing Gross's work after establishing Forum Gallery in New York City in 1961. After 1947 Gross had begun to incorporate more Jewish iconography and Old Testament themes into his work, designing and casting large scale menorahs for synagogues such as Temple Sinai in Pittsburgh and the Menorah Home for the Aged in Brooklyn during the 1960s. He executed six bronze panels, entitled Six Days of Creation, for Temple Sharaay Tefila in New York City in 1964, and Ten Commandments for the International Synagogue at Kennedy Airport in 1970-1971. In 1973 Gross illustrated The Book of Isaiah, published by the Jewish Publication Society of America.

Gross was active in many art-related and philanthropic organizations throughout his life and was the recipient of numerous awards, honors, and honorary degrees. He was elected to membership of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1964, became an Academician at the National Academy of Design in 1983, and was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1984. A solo exhibition Chaim Gross: Sculpture and Drawings, was held at the Smithsonian's National Collection of Fine Arts in 1974. In 1977 Gross had three retrospective exhibitions at the Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, the Montclair Art Museum, and the Jewish Museum in New York City. Scholar Roberta Tarbell wrote a key essay on Gross for the Jewish Museum exhibition.

In addition to being a professor of sculpture and printmaking at the Educational Alliance Art School and the New School for Social Research, Gross taught at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, the art school of the Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Students League.

Gross had begun collecting African sculpture in the 1930s and was later introduced by art critic Frank Getlein to Warren M. Robbins, who established the Museum of African Art in 1964. Gross gave Robbins several pieces for the museum and connected him with other individuals whose private collections of African art Robbins learned would be key to the success of the museum. A selection from Gross's renowned collection was exhibited at the Worcester Art Museum in The Sculptor's Eye: The African Art Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Gross in 1976.

The Renee & Chaim Gross Foundation was created in 1974 at 526 LaGuardia Place, the historic Greenwich Village townhouse which Chaim and Renee Gross purchased in 1962 and renovated to include studio and gallery space with living quarters above. Three years after Gross's death in 1991, the Renee and Chaim Gross foundation opened to the public with a memorial exhibition of the sculptor's work. 526 LaGuardia Place continues to house an extensive collection of Gross's artwork, a photographic archive, and Gross's personal art collection. Gross's work is represented in major museums throughout the United States and abroad, with the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden housing the largest collection of his sculpture in a public museum.

Related Materials:

Additional Chaim Gross papers are held by Syracuse University.

The Archives of American Art also holds an oral history interview of Chaim Gross conducted 1964 September 1 by Dorothy Seckler and an oral history interview of Chaim Gross conducted 1981 May 26-27 by Milton Wolf Brown.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art holds the microfilm (Reels D115a, 924, and 925) of ten record books, 1926-1975, containing rough drawings of artworks, dimensions, titles, dates, materials, production locations, and information regarding owners. The record books were returned to the donor after microfilming and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

The Chaim Gross papers were given to the Archives of American Art in a series of accessions by Chaim Gross from 1963-1983. Thirteen postcards were given by Mrs. Irving Marantz in 1975. Mimi Gross donated eight letters and two envelopes in 2005. Additional papers were donated by the Renee and Chaim Gross Foundation in 2016 via Susan Fisher, executive Director, and in 2017 and 2020 by the Foundation via Sasha Davis, Interim Director and Curator of Collections.

Restrictions:

Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact 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

Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Jewish artists  Search this

Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Video recordings

Motion pictures (visual works)

Citation:

Chaim Gross papers, 1920-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

The Chaim Gross papers were processed with funding from the Shirley Gorelick Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.groschai

See more items in:

Chaim Gross papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e77fa914-8285-4fca-a0f9-63172974dee1

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-groschai

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:

Johnson, Elaine L.  Search this

Names:

Obregón, Alejandro, 1920-  Search this

Orozco, José Clemente, 1883-1949  Search this

Sanchez, Emilio, 1921-1999  Search this

Extent:

1 Linear foot

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1957-1977

Summary:

The papers of Elaine L. Johnson measure 1.0 linear foot and date from 1957 to 1977. The papers document her career as an art curator and historian through correspondence regarding her work and professional material such as a resume, clippings, speeches and interviews, and manuscripts and notes for a book on Jose Clemente Orozco. Also included are 7 untranscribed cassette tapes of Johnson interviewing Jose Clemente Orozco's son, Clemente, and Miguel Ocampo, Alejandro Obregon, Emilio Sanchez and other Latin American artists, 1968-1970.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Elaine L. Johnson measure 1.0 linear foot and date from 1957 to 1977. The papers document her career as an art curator and historian through correspondence regarding her work and professional material such as a resume, clippings, speeches and interviews, and manuscripts and notes for a book on Jose Clemente Orozco. Also included are 7 untranscribed cassette tapes of Johnson interviewing Jose Clemente Orozco's son, Clemente, and Miguel Ocampo, Alejandro Obregon, Emilio Sanchez and other Latin American artists, 1968-1970.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into two series.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1970-1977 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Professional Activity Files, 1957-1975 (0.5 linear feet; Box 1)

Biographical / Historical:

Elaine L. Johnson (1928-1979) was a museum curator and art historian in New York City. Johnson was an associate curator of paintings and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York who wrote, "Contemporary Painters and Sculptors as Printmakers," 1966.

Related Materials:

Elaine Johnson Papers are located at the The Museum of Modern Art Archives.

Provenance:

Donated in 1980 by Alan W. Johnson, Elaine Johnson's brother.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art, Central American  Search this

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Women art historians  Search this

Women museum curators  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

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

Identifier:

AAA.johnelai

See more items in:

Elaine L. Johnson papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ea05944b-6e95-43e2-8db7-f576dc8cc349

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-johnelai

Creator:

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2018-10-12T00:03:47.000Z

YouTube Category:

Travel & Events  Search this

Topic:

Cultural property  Search this

See more by:

smithsonianfolklife

Data Source:

Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

YouTube Channel:

smithsonianfolklife

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_Yz6RRQzPxLQ

Creator:

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:

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. and Paula Cooper Gallery  Search this

Names:

Park Place Gallery Art Research, Inc.  Search this

Paula Cooper Gallery  Search this

Paula Johnson Gallery  Search this

Bartlett, Jennifer, 1941-  Search this

Campus, Peter, 1937-  Search this

Cooper, Paula, 1938-  Search this

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Fleming, Dean  Search this

Forakis, Peter  Search this

Grosvenor, Robert, 1937-  Search this

Leonard, Zoe  Search this

Magar, Anthony, 1936-  Search this

Melcher, Tamara  Search this

Murray, Elizabeth, 1940-  Search this

Myers, Forrest Warden, 1941-  Search this

Novros, David, 1941-  Search this

Ruda, Edwin  Search this

Shields, Alan, 1944-  Search this

Smith, Tony, 1912-1980  Search this

Thompson, Bob, 1937-1966  Search this

Valledor, Leo, 1936-1989  Search this

Extent:

135.3 Linear feet

0.001 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Interviews

Transcripts

Photographs

Date:

circa 1961-2018

Summary:

The records of the New York artist-cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. and the Soho contemporary art gallery Paula Cooper Gallery measure 135.3 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1961 to 2018. The collection documents the founding of the Park Place Gallery and its artists through correspondence, artists' files, photographic materials, financial records, printed and digital materials, and scattered business records. The bulk of the collection is Paula Cooper Gallery records; nearly two-thirds of which are artists' files containing a variety of materials such as correspondence, printed materials, and photographic materials. Also found is additional business correspondence, business records, financial records, and printed materials for Paula Cooper Gallery, as well as a handful of records from Paula Johnson Gallery. There is an 85.5 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2023 that includes artist files, exhibition files, correspondence, audiovisual material, archtectural plans and miscellaneous business records from Paula Cooper Gallery. Materials date from circa 1970-2018.

Scope and Content Note:

The records of the New York artist-cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. and the Soho contemporary art gallery Paula Cooper Gallery measure 135.3 linear feet and 0.001 GB and date from circa 1961 to 2018. The collection documents the founding of the Park Place Gallery and its artists through correspondence, artists' files, photographic materials, financial records, printed and digital materials, and scattered business records. The bulk of the collection is Paula Cooper Gallery records; nearly two-thirds of which are artists' files containing a variety of materials such as correspondence, printed materials, and photographic materials. Also found is additional business correspondence, business records, financial records, and printed materials for Paula Cooper Gallery, as well as a handful of records from Paula Johnson Gallery.

The collection is divided in three series, one series for each gallery represented in this collection. The records in each series are not comprehensive and do not represent the full scope of operations at each gallery. Due to the original arrangement of materials, some records related to Park Place Gallery are found in Series 3, and scattered records related to Paula Cooper Gallery are found in Series 2. Researchers are encouraged to reference both series.

Series 1, Paula Johnson Gallery records, contains six folders and includes an artist file for Bob Thompson; two ledger pages of accounts receivables; scattered exhibition announcements and flyers; two photographs of artwork by Vernon Lobb; tax records, and a handful of legal organizational records.

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records are filed in Series 2 and is arranged in five subseries: correspondence, business files, artists' files, financial records, and printed materials. The correspondence is between gallery employees and clients, museums, and other galleries regarding artwork inquiries, sales and exhibitions. Business files are limited in scope and include documents related to the founding of the gallery, a guest book, and one folder of legal and financial records. Artists' Files for eight of the ten Park Place Gallery artists are found: Dean Fleming, Peter Forakis, Tony Magar, Tamara Melcher, Forrest Myers, David Novros, Edwin Ruda, and Leo Valledor. Not present in this collection are files for Mark di Suvero and Robert Grosvenor. Artists' Files contain a variety of materials including artists' statements, bibliographies, biographies, correspondence, exhibition flyers, interview transcripts, clippings and other printed materials, and photographic materials. Financial Records include check ledgers, a general ledger, paid bill receipts, sales invoices, tax forms, and other miscellaneous financial and banking records. Printed Materials include newspaper clippings, gallery announcements, an interview transcript, a handwritten gallery floor plan, and a poster for the 1964 Park Place Invitational Show drawn by Mark di Suvero with artists' names handwritten by Robert Grosvenor.

The bulk of the collection is the records of Paula Cooper Gallery, Series 3. This series contains similar materials as Series 2 and is arranged in the same five subseries. Correspondence includes responses to appraisal requests (1968-1997) and copies of outgoing gallery correspondence from 1985-1999. Business Files contain documentation related to advertising and renovations to the gallery, as well as an artwork inventory book from the early years of the gallery's operation. The bulk of this series is comprised of Artists' Files which contain varied materials such as correspondence with artists, museums, and galleries regarding installations, artwork fabrication, and other business; biographies and bibliographies; exhibition files; printed materials; and photographic materials of artwork and installations. There is considerable documentation for artists Jennifer Bartlett, Peter Campus, Zoe Leonard, Elizabeth Murray, Alan Shields and the estate of Tony Smith. Sales invoices, consignment records, payment ledgers, cancelled checks and other financial materials are found in Financial Records. Printed Materials are comprised of some newspaper and magazine clippings, an interview transcript, and a copy of a manuscript.

There is an 85.5 linear foot unprocessed addition to this collection donated in 2022 that includes artist files, exhibition files, correspondence, audiovisual material, architectural plans, and miscellaneous business records from Paula Cooper Gallery. Materials date from circa 1970-2018.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 4 series:

Series 1: Paula Johnson Gallery, 1963-1967 (Box 1; 6 folders)

Series 2: Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc., 1961-1973, 1989 (Boxes 1-4, 50-51, OV 52; 4.1 linear feet)

Series 3: Paula Cooper Gallery, 1962-2006 (Boxes 4-49, 51; 45.7 linear feet, ER01; 0.001 GB)

Series 4: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1970-2018 (Boxes 53-138, OV 139-146; 85.5 linear feet)

Historical Note:

The artists' cooperative Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. opened in November 1965 at 542 West Broadway, showing the work of ten young contemporary artists. The cooperative did not represent an art movement, but frequently exhibited large-scale, non-figurative, geometric paintings and sculptures.

Many of the gallery's artists had attended art school in California and shared similar ideas about art, community, and collaboration. Since 1962, they had been informally exhibiting together at 79 Park Place and other various New York City locations under the name Park Place Gallery. With the successes of their informal exhibitions, and the loss of their lease at 79 Park Place, the group formalized their cooperative under the umbrella non-profit, Art Research, Inc. in 1965.

The cooperative was comprised of five sculptors, five painters, and five collectors. Members included sculptors Mark di Suvero, Peter Forakis, Robert Grosvenor, Tony Magar, and Forrest Myers; painters Dean Fleming, Tamara Melcher, David Novros, Edwin Ruda, and Leo Valledor; and collectors Virginia Dwan, Allen and Betty Guiberson, J. Patrick Lannan, Vera List, and John and Lupe Murchison. The collectors each donated an artwork by one of the artists for sale in the gallery, as well as financed the gallery's annual operating budget. As compensation, each collector was given one major work of art by each artist every year.

Paula Cooper (nee. Johnson) joined Park Place Gallery in 1966 and she became director in late 1966-early 1967. Previously, from 1964-1966, she ran Paula Johnson Gallery, showing artwork by Bob Thompson and other young artists.

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. had its first group show in February 1966. In addition to showing art, the gallery occasionally held jazz sessions and other art-related gatherings. The gallery physically closed at the end of July 1967. However, Paula Cooper continued managing the sale of artwork and organized exhibitions at various locations. The final exhibition of Park Place Gallery artists was held at M.I.T. in late spring of 1968.

Paula Cooper opened Paula Cooper Gallery in Soho at 96 Prince Street in 1968. Her gallery is often credited as being the first gallery in Soho and thus paved the way for the migration of uptown galleries to the neighborhood. From the beginning, the gallery showed primarily conceptual and minimalist art and she continued representing some of the Park Place artists. Artists represented by Paula Cooper Gallery and found in this collection include Jennifer Bartlett, Dara Birnbaum, Peter Campus, Michael Hurson, Zoe Leonard, Robert Mangold, Elizabeth Murray, Cady Noland, Adrian Piper, Ulrich Rückriem, Edwin Ruda, Alan Shields, the estate of Tony Smith, Joseph White, Chris Wilmarth, Kes Zapkus, and many others. The gallery continues to operate in Chelsea on West 21st Street.

Sources consulted include "Reimaging Space: the Park Place Gallery Group in 1960s New York" by Linda Dalrymple Henderson, published by Blanton Museum of Art, 2008; and, "Art and Space: Park Place and the beginning of the Paula Cooper Gallery," by Liza Kirwin, 2007 (http://www.aaa.si.edu/exhibitions/paula-cooper).

Related Material:

Related collections found among the holdings of the Archives of America include a sound recording of a lecture given by Paula Cooper (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston sound recordings, May 18, 1983-February 8, 1984); audio tapes which include Paula Cooper (Bruce D. Kurtz video and audio recordings and papers, 1966-1995); and two silent 16mm films by Kenny Schneider (Park Place Gallery artists films, 1967.)

Provenance:

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records and Paula Cooper Gallery records were donated by Paula Cooper, director of the galleries, in thre accessions in 2006, 2009 and 2022.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

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

Rights:

All collection material in boxes 1-52, except photographs: Permission to quote, publish or reproduce requires written permission from Paula Cooper. 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.

Function:

Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State)

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Transcripts

Photographs

Citation:

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records and Paula Cooper Gallery records, 1961-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collection Care Preservation Fund

Identifier:

AAA.parkplag

See more items in:

Park Place, The Gallery of Art Research, Inc. records and Paula Cooper Gallery records

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw926d9e348-f361-4c9a-bec4-7cb8f9c08556

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-parkplag

Creator:

Jenkins, Paul, 1923-2012  Search this

Names:

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

Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this

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

New York University  Search this

Baber, Alice  Search this

Bluhm, Norman, 1921-1999  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Dusanne, Zoe, -1977  Search this

Erma, Thomas, 1939-1964  Search this

Gilot, Francoise, 1921-  Search this

Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979  Search this

Jenkins, Esther Ebenhoe  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this

Prantl, Karl  Search this

Prince, Frank  Search this

Extent:

11.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Travel diaries

Manuscripts

Sketches

Watercolors

Prints

Collages

Visitors' books

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Place:

China -- Description and Travel

Date:

circa 1915-2010

Summary:

The papers of abstract expressionist painter and playwright Paul Jenkins measure 11.1 linear feet and date from circa 1915 to 2010. Jenkins's career in New York and Paris is documented through biographical material, family papers, correspondence, writings, personal business records, printed material, photographs of Jenkins in his studio and at various events, and original artwork by Jenkins and others.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of abstract expressionist painter and playwright Paul Jenkins measure 11.1 linear feet and date from circa 1915 to 2010. Jenkins's career in New York and Paris is documented through biographical material, family papers, correspondence, writings, personal business records, printed material, photographs of Jenkins in his studio and at various events, and original artwork by Jenkins and others.

Biographical material and family papers consist of awards and certificates, calendars, marriage, divorce, and estate papers, and military service records. Also included are family papers and a scrapbook belonging to Jenkins's aunt, Louise Jenkins.

Correspondence, which makes up the bulk of the collection, is with family, friends, and fellow artists, including Alice Baber, Norman Bluhm, Willem de Kooning, and Lee Krasner Pollock, as well as art organizations, schools, museums, galleries, and gallery owners, such as the Art Students League of New York, New York University, Museum of Modern Art, Martha Jackson Gallery, Zoe Dusanne, and Peggy Guggenheim.

Writings includes scattered writings by Paul Jenkins, two of his travel diaries, and the guest book for an exhibition in Tokyo. Also found are a copy of Lili Krahmer Verame's China travel diary and the writings and research materials of others.

Personal business records consist of financial records, lease documents, price lists, travel documents, and papers regarding Jenkins's rental property. Also included are a file on the New York University medal designed by Jenkins and a file concerning a Karl Prantl statue.

Printed material consists of event programs, newsletters, bulletins, member reports, press releases, art exhibition announcements and catalogs, concert and theater announcements and programs, news and magazine clippings, and obituaries and memorial announcements.

Artwork contains miscellaneous sketches and collages by Paul Jenkins. Additional artworks include sketches, watercolors, and prints by other artists, as well as 8 oversize mixed media sketches by Frank Prince of Jenkins's Meditation Mandala Sundial sculptures.

Photographs of Paul Jenkins depict him in his studio, with family and friends, and at events. Photographs of family and friends include Esther Ebenhoe Jenkins, Alice Baber Jenkins, Norman Bluhm, Thomas Erma, Françoise Gilot, Matsumi "Mike," Carole, and Bunshi Paul Kanemitsu, and Frank Prince.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 7 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1915-1997 (Box 1; 9 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-2010 (Box 1-9, 13; 9 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1950-2003 (Box 9-10; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Personal Business Records, circa 1944-1990 (Box 10; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 5: Printed Material, circa 1952-2010 (Box 10-11; 0.6 linear feet)

Aeries 6: Artwork, circa 1935-2007 (Box 11-12, OV 14; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 7: Photography, circa 1940-1998 (Box 12; 0.4 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

Paul Jenkins (1923-2012) was an abstract expressionist painter and playwright in New York, New York, and Paris, France. Jenkins was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1923, and moved to Youngstown, Ohio as a teenager. After serving in the U.S. Maritime Service and the U.S. Naval Air Corps, Jenkins studied playwriting with George McCalmon at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). In 1948, he moved to New York City, where he studied with Yasuo Kuniyoshi at the Art Students League of New York.

Over the course of his career, Jenkins experimented with multiple techniques, including oil on primed canvas, flowing paints, acrylics, watercolor, and mixed media collages. After traveling extensively and meeting many artists, Jenkins ultimately became associated with the Abstract Expressionists. His work gained the attention of other members of the art world and he held solo exhibitions at venues such as the Zoe Dusanne Gallery in Seattle and the Martha Jackson Gallery in New York. Jenkins' paintings were purchased by both museums and private collectors, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and Peggy Guggenheim.

In addition to his painting, Jenkins continued to explore other creative endeavors. He experimented with sculpture, producing works for events and permanent displays, including the Sculptors' Symposium at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Sculpture Garden of the Hofstra Museum. His plays, such as Strike the Puma, were published and performed off Broadway in New York City. Jenkins's art served as the backdrop for multiple stage productions, and in 1978, his paintings were featured in the Academy Award nominated movie An Unmarried Woman. Jenkins also collaborated on a number of book projects, including Anatomy of a Cloud, a collection of autobiographical collages and texts.

Throughout his adult life, Jenkins split most of his time between New York and Paris. He continued to create and exhibit new works until his death in New York in 2012.

Related Materials:

Also found at the Archives of American Art are an interview of Paul Jenkins, August 1969, conducted by Albert Elsen, and an oral history interview, 1968, conducted by Colette Roberts.

Provenance:

The papers were donated 2007-2009 and in 2012 by Paul and Suzanne Jenkins.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

The donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own.

Occupation:

Dramatists -- France -- Paris  Search this

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

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Artists' studios -- Photographs  Search this

Medals -- Design  Search this

Painters -- France -- Paris  Search this

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

Genre/Form:

Travel diaries

Manuscripts

Sketches

Watercolors

Prints

Collages

Visitors' books

Photographs

Scrapbooks

Citation:

Paul Jenkins papers, circa 1915-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.jenkpaul2

See more items in:

Paul Jenkins papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97a17d1c1-3b35-4e96-b562-6daf3559775e

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-jenkpaul2

Creator:

Rose, Barbara  Search this

Names:

Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this

Andre, Carl, 1935-  Search this

Bannard, Walter Darby, 1934-  Search this

Bellamy, Richard  Search this

Bierman, A. K., 1923- (Arthur Kalme)  Search this

Bladen, Ronald, 1918-1988  Search this

Bowles, John  Search this

Castelli, Leo  Search this

Davis, Jim, 1901-1974  Search this

Davis, Ron, 1937-  Search this

De Forest, Roy, 1930-2007  Search this

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Dzubas, Friedel, 1915-  Search this

Flavin, Dan, 1933-  Search this

Frazier, Charles  Search this

Geldzahler, Henry  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Hopps, Walter  Search this

Judd, Donald, 1928-  Search this

Karp, Ivan C., 1926-2012  Search this

Kauffman, Craig, 1932-2010  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this

LeWitt, Sol, 1928-2007  Search this

Lefebre, John  Search this

Lichtenstein, Roy, 1923-1997  Search this

Locks, Seymour, 1919-  Search this

Lye, Len, 1901-1980  Search this

Mack, Heinz, 1931-  Search this

McCracken, John, 1934-2011  Search this

McShine, Kynaston  Search this

Meier, Richard, 1934-  Search this

Morris, Robert, 1931-2018  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Mundt, Ernest Karl, 1905-  Search this

Murray, Robert, 1936-  Search this

Myers, John Bernard  Search this

Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-  Search this

Padovano, Anthony  Search this

Piene, Otto, 1928-  Search this

Poons, Larry  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Rexroth, Kenneth, 1905-1982  Search this

Rose, Barbara  Search this

Rudolph, Paul, 1918-  Search this

Sandler, Irving, 1925-  Search this

Segal, George, 1924-2000  Search this

Stella, Frank  Search this

Taylor, Edward Silverstone  Search this

Wasserman, Tamara E.  Search this

Wesselmann, Tom, 1931-2004  Search this

Extent:

1.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Interviews

Transcripts

Sound recordings

Lectures

Date:

1962-circa 1969

Summary:

The Barbara Rose papers date from 1962 to circa 1969 and measure 1.4 linear feet. Papers include letters, writings, printed material, interviews with artists, panel discussions, and lectures relating to Barbara Rose's research as an art historian.

Scope and Contents:

The Barbara Rose papers date from 1962 to circa 1969 and measure 1.4 linear feet. Papers include letters, interviews with artists, panel discussions, lectures, writings, and printed material relating to Barbara Rose's work as an art historian and critic.

Letters consist of responses to queries and questionnaires Rose and Irving Sandler sent to contemporary artists as research for writing projects. Questionnaires were sesnt in preparation for an article in Art in America on artists' sensibility of the 1960s, with responses from Robert Motherwell, Robert Craig Kauffman, Len Lye, Robert Morris, George Segal, David Hare, and others. A separate query asked sculptors for their assessment of contemporary sculptor's needs and the potential for patronage, and responses are found from Carl Andre, Charles Frazier, Robert Murray, Anthony Padovano, Ron Bladen, Roy Lichtenstein, Len Lye, Sol LeWitt, Heinz Mack, Otto Peine, Dan Flavin, and Donald Judd.

Interviews conducted by Rose between 1965 and circa 1969 are found with Richard Bellamy, Leo Castelli, James E. Davis, Henry Geldzahler, Ivan Karp, Lee Krasner, John Lefebre, John Myers, Donald Judd with Frank Stella, and Tom Wesselmann. All interviews include original sound recordings, and the Judd and Stella, Krasner, and Myers interviews include transcripts. Panel discussions and lectures include sound recordings and transcripts of seven events on a variety of contemporary art and architecture subjects held between 1962 and 1968. Sound recordings are present for five of the events on 10 sound tape reels, and transcripts are present for all events. Participants in the panel discussions and lectures include Barbara Rose, Ronald Davis, Dan Flavin, Robert Kauffman, John Harvey McCracken, Friedel Dzubas, Ansel Adams, Arthur Bierman, Kenneth Rexroth, Edward Taylor, Ernst Karl Mundt, John Bowles, Roy Dean De Forest, Seymour Locks, Walter Hopps, Mark Di Suvero, Donald Judd, Robert Morris, Kynaston McShine, Walter Darby Bannard, Donald Judd, Larry Poons, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Meier, Paul Rudolph, Claes Oldenburg, and Robert Murray.

Writings include photocopied typescripts of "Myth, Symbol, or Me," by Emily Wasserman and "Excerpts from a Work Journal on Flying Sculpture," by Charles Frazier. Printed material consists of two copies of the premiere issue of the 57th Street Review, from Nov. 15, 1966.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged as 4 series.

Missing Title

Series 1: Letters (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 2: Interviews (0.6 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 3: Panel Discussions and Lectures (0.5 linear feet; Boxes 1-2)

Series 4: Writings and Printed Material (0.1 linear feet; Box 2)

Biographical / Historical:

Barbara Rose is an American art historian and critic who has published widely in the field of modern American art. Born in 1938 in Washington, DC, Rose studied at the Sorbonne, Smith College, Barnard, and finally, Columbia University under Meyer Shapiro. Rose became immersed in the New York-based circle of modernist artists and curators in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and made her substantial contribution to the discourse on contemporary art with the insider's perspective this afforded her. In 1961, she married the painter Frank Stella and they had two children before their divorce in 1969.

Rose taught at Yale University, Sarah Lawrence, University of California at Irvine and San Diego, and the American University Art in Italy program, and was senior curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, from 1981-1985. A prolific writer, Rose is the author of American Art Since 1900 (1967), The Golden Age of Dutch Painting (1969), American Painting: The 20th Century (Skira, 1969), and monographs on the artists Magdalena Abankawicz, Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Liberman, Larry Rivers, and others, as well as dozens of exhibition catalog essays. She held editorial positions at Art in America, Vogue, Artforum, Partisan Review, and Journal of Art, and her writing has also appeared in Art International, Studio International, Arts Magazine, and ARTnews, among many others.

Related Materials:

Barbara Rose papers, 1940-1993 (bulk 1960-1985) are located at The Getty Research Institute Special Collections.

Separated Materials:

Additional papers of Barbara Rose are held by The Getty Research Institute.

Provenance:

Donated 1971-1977 by Barbara Rose.

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.

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

Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Transcripts

Sound recordings

Lectures

Citation:

Barbara Rose papers, 1962-circa 1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.rosebarb

See more items in:

Barbara Rose papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94ba999c5-8b4b-480e-ae02-6477a9b5920f

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-rosebarb

Creator:

Nivola, Costantino, 1911-1988  Search this

Extent:

2.1 Linear feet

12.18 Gigabytes

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Gigabytes

Drawings

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Date:

circa 1938-2009

bulk 1950-1980

Summary:

The papers of sculptor and design teacher Costantino Nivola measure 2.1 linear feet and 12.18 GB and date from circa 1938 to 2009, bulk 1950 to 1980. The papers document Nivola's career in Italy and New York through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional activities, project files, printed material, photographs, and audio-visual recordings in digital format.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of sculptor and design teacher Costantino Nivola measure 2.1 linear feet and 12.18 GB and date from circa 1938 to 2009, bulk 1950 to 1980. The papers document Nivola's career in Italy and New York through biographical material, correspondence, writings, professional activities, project files, printed material, photographs, and audio-visual recordings in digital format.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1988 (3 folders; Box 1)

Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1938-circa 1988 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1940-circa 1988 (5 folders; Box 1)

Series 4: Professional Activities, 1953-circa 1985 (0.2 linear feet; Box 1)

Series 5: Project Files, 1956-1982 (0.6 linear feet; Boxes 1-2, 0.912 GB; ER01)

Series 6: Printed Material, 1953-1978 (0.2 linear feet; Box 2, OV 3)

Series 7: Photographs, circa 1950-circa 1980 (0.3 linear feet; Box 2, OV 3)

Series 8: Digital Recordings, 1950s-2009 (11.27 GB; ER02-ER14)

Biographical / Historical:

Costantino Nivola (1911-1988) was a sculptor and design teacher mostly based in East Hampton, New York, and Sardinia, Italy. Nivola was born in Sardinia and trained at Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche (ISIA) in Monza, Italy. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1939, and was employed as an art director, editor of architecture and design publications, and design instructor at the college level. He taught design at Columbia University, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere.

Nivola developed a sandcasting technique which he used extensively for producing sculptural murals in concrete. His commissions include murals, fountains, sculpture, and monuments for public buildings and corporate headquarters.

Related Materials:

Reproductions of a portion of the collection are available at Costantino Nivola Museum, Sardinia, Italy.

Provenance:

The Costantino Nivola papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1979 and 1980 by Costantino Nivola and in 2012 by Claire and Pietro Nivola, Nivola's children.

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 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 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) -- East Hampton  Search this

Educators -- New York (State)  Search this

Sculptors -- Italy  Search this

Topic:

Art, Municipal  Search this

Sand casting  Search this

Genre/Form:

Drawings

Interviews

Sound recordings

Video recordings

Citation:

Costantino Nivola papers, circa 1938-2009. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.nivocost

See more items in:

Costantino Nivola papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw99f94e605-0792-407a-a46d-694a9e198acf

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-nivocost