An interview of Chuzo Tamotzu (Tamotsu) conducted 1964 September 3 by Sylvia Loomis for the Archives of American Art.
Tamotzu discusses studying Occidental, Oriental art in Japan; traveling to Korea, Manchuria and China, South Sea Islands, Singapore, then Europe for a year; coming to New York in 1920; his involvement with An American Group; Juliana Force recruiting him for the Federal Art Project; being on the Easel Project and also on the Graphic Art Project; the Works Projects Administration; given "pink-slip" on the Project since he was not a U.S. citizen; stint in the U.S. Army, Office of Strategic Service doing propaganda paintings for psychological war material for the Japanese Army and soldiers; settling in Santa Fe, N.M.; Oriental painting; and Artist Equity Association. Tamotzu mentions Beatrice Mandelman, Louis Ribak, Robert Philip, Stuart Eddy, Frederick Knight, and Olive Rush.
Biographical / Historical:
Chuzo Tamotzu (1888-1975) was a Japanese American painter based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tamotzu was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1920. He moved to Santa Fe in 1948.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 40 min.
Provenance:
Conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
2.5 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Drawings
Date:
1919-1966
Scope and Contents:
Drawings, caricatures, scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs, writings, and printed material.
REELS 723-724: Two scrapbooks, 1919-1935 and 1935-1966, containing clippings, exhibition catalogs, and printed materials; and 128 letters from artists, galleries, and art organizations, including American Artists Congress, Associated American Artists Gallery, Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Cadmus, Philip Evergood, Emily Genauer, Julian Levi, Gregorio Prestopino, Zoltan Sepeshy, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, William Zorach, and others.
UNMICROFILMED: Caricatures and portrait drawings by Smith of Jack Chain, Francis Criss, Stuart C. Edie, Philip Evergood, Ernest Fiene, Eugenie Gershoy, Chaim Gross, Nathan Halper, [?] Hunt, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Julian Levi, Reginald Marsh, Jan Matulka, Concetta Scaravaglione, Irving Stone, Chuzo Tamotzu, and unidentified others. Also included is a self-portrait.
ADDITION: Ca. 40 letters; photographs, including Smith, other artists, and Woodstock, NY; draft manuscript for Smith's book, "Art and the Artist and You" (includes copy photographs of illustrations for the book); writings; exhibition catalogs and related printed material; and clippings. Ca. 35 of the letters were previously lent and microfilmed on reels 723-724.
Biographical / Historical:
Watercolor painter; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reels 723-724 lent for microfilming 1974 by David Loeffler Smith, Smith's son. He subsequently donated the 2 scrapbooks and some correspondence from the loan, along with additional unmicrofilmed material, in 1983 and 1994.
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:
Watercolorists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Correspondence; biographical data; list of works of art; photographs; sketchbook; annotated books; financial material; a diary; sketches; prints; and printed material.
REEL SW 6: Correspondence, including 2 letters from Philip Evergood; biographical data; photographs; list of paintings sold; sketches; prints; catalogs; and clippings.
REELS 3031-3041: Biographical information; a list of works of art; correspondence, 1930-1975; photographs of Tamotzu, his family, friends and works of art; a sketchbook, 1945-1946; annotated books; files on his trips to Japan and his work about Hiroshima, New Mexico and its artists' community, galleries, museums, art associations, collectors and artists Philip Evergood, Louis Ribak, Olive Rush, Eugenie Shonnard, John Sloan and others; financial material; exhibition announcements and catalogs; clippings; printed material; and a diary kept by Tamotzu's wife Louise Kates Tamotzu.
Biographical / Historical:
Chuzo Tamotzu (1888-1975) was a Japanese American painter based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Tamotzu was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1920. He moved to Santa Fe in 1948.
Provenance:
Reels 3031-3041: Microfilmed as part of the Archives of American Art's Texas project.
Material on reel SW 6 lent for microfilming 1970 by Chuzo Tamotzu and material on reels 3031-3041 lent for microfilming 1983 by Louise Kates Tamotzu, widow of Tamotzu. All material subequently donated to the University of New Mexico, Center for Southwest research.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
