The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks.
There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of landscape painter and educator Reuben Tam measure 9.2 linear feet and date from 1931 to 2006. The papers document his career as a painter in New York, Maine, and Hawaii through biographical material; correspondence with family, friends, art organizations, schools, and galleries; diaries, poetry, and other writings; exhibition catalogs, news clippings, other printed material; photographs; artwork, including seventeen sketchbooks; and eight scrapbooks. There is a 1.1 linear foot unprocessed addition to the collection donated in 2020 that includes 34 sketchbooks, circa 1940-1974, by Tam from his time in New York, Hawaii, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Oregon, Alaska and Canada.
Biographical material includes school documents, records of his tenure as an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School, artwork consignment and sales records, and slides and accompanying audio cassette recording of the "Reuben Tam Show" about his work as an artist on Monhegan Island, Maine.
Correspondence is with family, fellow artists, including William Kienbusch and Hyde Solomon, as well as art organizations, schools, and museums, such as Brooklyn Museum of Art School, Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Maine Coast Artists group, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Also found is correspondence with the three galleries which represented his work: Downtown Gallery, Alan Gallery, and Coe Kerr Gallery.
The collection includes five bound diaries as well as diary entries written by Reuben Tam on loose sheets of paper, primarily documenting the 1940s. Other writings include drafts of poetry, one notebook, miscellaneous notes, and essays by others.
Printed material consists of school publications, exhibition catalogs and announcements for solo and group shows, brochures, flyers, magazines, bulletins, and news clippings. Eight scrapbooks found in this collection also include newspaper clippings, exhibition announcements and catalogs, as well as event invitations, membership cards, and letters, documenting 40 years of Reuben Tam's career.
Photographs are of Reuben Tam, Tam with friends and family, and artwork. One photograph album contains photographs from Tam's visits to Maine from 1946 to 1948, and includes photographs of fellow artists Hyde Solomon, Carl Nesjar, Dorothy Andrews, and William Kienbusch. Artwork in the collection includes prints, drawings, and watercolors as well as seventeen large sketchbooks documenting the coastal landscape of Monhegan Island, Maine.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 9 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1934-1993 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-2006 (Box 1-4; 3.5 linear feet)
Series 3: Diaries, 1932-1974 (Box 4-5; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 4: Writings, 1939-1987 (Box 5; 7 folders)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1935-1997 (Box 5-6, 9; 1.2 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, circa 1930-1990 (Box 6-7, 9; 1.0 linear foot)
Series 7: Artwork, circa 1936-1975 (Box 7, 9-10, OV 11; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 8: Scrapbooks, 1938-1978 (Box 7-8; 0.9 linear feet)
Series 9: Unprocessed Addition, circa 1940-1974 (Box 12, OV13; 1.1 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Reuben Tam (1916-1991) was a landscape painter and educator in New York, Maine, and Hawaii. Tam was born in Kapaa, Hawaii, in 1916. He received a degree in education in 1937 from the University of Hawaii and was briefly a public school teacher before attending graduate courses at the California School of Fine Arts. In 1941 he moved to New York and took courses in art history and philosophy at the New School for Social Research and Columbia University. Tam became affiliated with the Downtown Gallery in 1945 and was a prolific exhibitor in national and regional shows, winning critical praise as an abstract landscape painter. In 1948 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and first exhibited in the National Academy's annual exhibition in 1947.
Tam was an instructor at the Brooklyn Museum of Art School from 1946 to 1974. While there he taught advanced studies in painting and was chairman of the graduate painting department. He also served as a visiting professor at Oregon State University, Haystack, and Queens College, CUNY.
Beginning in 1948, Tam and his wife, Geraldine, spent summers at their home and studio on Monhegan Island, Maine. Tam's work was deeply influenced by coastal landscapes both in Maine and in his native Hawaii. In 1981 he and his wife moved back to Kapaa, Hawaii, where he continued to paint and exhibit his new works until his death in 1991.
Related Materials:
Reuben Tam papers, 1958-1966, are also located at Syracuse University.
Provenance:
Scrapbooks were lent for microfilming in 1970 by Reuben Tam and were subsequently donated in 2009 along with additional papers by Geraldine King Tam, Reuben Tam's widow. 34 additional sketchbooks were donated in 2020 by the Geraldine King Tam Trust, via Cindy King, trustee and niece of Geraldine King Tam.
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.
Reuben Tam papers, 1931-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing and digitization of the Reuben Tam papers received Federal support from the Asian Pacific American Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center.
An interview of Nell Blaine conducted 1967 June 15, by Dorothy Seckler, for the Archives of American Art.
Blaine speaks of her family background; her competitive spirit; commercial art; becoming a "disciple" of Hans Hofmann; Hofmann as a teacher; the influence of Arp, Helion, Leger and Mondrian; the American Abstract Artists group; the Jane Street Gallery; jazz musicians; painting in Paris, Italy, Mexico, Greece, England, and elsewhere; her paralysis caused by polio; design work with Alvin H. Ross; her interest in color and light; landscape and figurative paintings; and the contemporary art scene. She recalls Leland Bell, Worden Day, Jane and Jack Freilicher, Wolf Kahn, Albert Kresch, Larry Rivers, Hyde Solomon, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Nell Blaine (1922-1996) was a painter in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Occupation:
Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Illustrators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Correspondence, records, catalogs, biographical material, photographs, and printed materials.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material, 1911-1983; correspondence; notes; writings; business records; magazines; clippings; exhibition announcements and catalogs; and photographs of Solomon, his works of art.
REEL N69-33: Correspondence, including correspondence with the Poindexter Gallery; financial records; exhibition catalogs; clippings; photographs; and two scrapbooks.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Taos, New Mexico and New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reel N69-33 was lent for filming 1969 by Hyde Solomon and his gallery, Poindexter Gallery. All other material donated 1984 by Solomon's brother, Harry.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
2.4 Linear feet (ca. 4500 items (partially microfilmed on 7 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1934-1980
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence; biographical data; photographs; sketches; notes and writings; calendars; teaching materials; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and clippings.
REELS N70-3-N70-4: Biographical data; a photograph of Calcagno; notes and writings; sketches; writings about Calcagno; a list of his paintings; correspondence with galleries, museums, universities, art organizations, friends and colleagues; teaching material; exhibition catalogs and announcements; and clippings.
REELS N70-43-N70-45: Letters to Calcagno's family, written from Madrid, Florence, Rome and Paris; correspondence with galleries, museums, art organizations, friends, artists, and buyers, including Charles Boggs, Richard Brewer, Adele Cohen, Beauford Delaney, Marilyn Einhorn, Rufus Foshee, Calcagno's sister Virginia Gibson, Alberto Gutierrez, Martha Jackson, Nesta Obermer, Mark Rothko (one letter), Clay Spohn, Hyde Solomon, Yaddo and others; an annotated calendar, 1969; and financial material.
REELS N69-120-N69-121: Correspondence with galleries, museums, artists, art organizations and friends, including: The Gallery of Modern Art, Scottsdale, Arizona, Martha Jackson Gallery, Tirca Karlis Gallery, McRoberts and Tunnard, Ltd, London, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogata, Columbia, The New Arts Gallery, Houston, Texas, Zuni Gallery, Buffalo, New York, and others; exhibition catalogs and correspondence regarding their publication.
UNMICROFILMED: Biographical data; correspondence with galleries, universities, museums, friends and others; writings and notes; annotated calendars; teaching notebooks; exhibition catalogs, announcements; press releases and invitations; price lists; photographs of Calcagno, his family, studios, and paintings, some which are now destroyed; and slides of paintings.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; New York, N.Y. Died 1993.
Provenance:
Material on reels N70-43-N70-45 and unfilmed material donated 1970-1980 by Lawrence Calcagno. Material on reels N70-3-N70-4 and N69-120-N69-121 lent 1969 for microfilming by Lawrence Calcagno.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
