The papers of painter, printmaker, and curator Jacob Kainen measure 33.3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2009, with the bulk of the material from 1940-2001. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence/subject files including personal correspondence to and from friends and family members and professional correspondence and records concerning Kainen's activities as an artist, curator, teacher, and art collector. The collection also contains biographical material, writings, diaries, calendars, inventories, interview transcripts, printed material, photographs, works of art by other artists, and nine scrapbooks.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter, printmaker, and curator Jacob Kainen measure 33.3 linear feet and date from 1905 to 2009, with the bulk of the material from 1940-2001. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence/subject files including personal correspondence to and from friends and family members and professional correspondence and records concerning Kainen's activities as an artist, curator, teacher, and art collector. The collection also contains biographical material, writings, diary and journal entries, calendars, inventories, interview and "dialog" transcripts, printed material, photographs, works of art by other artists, and nine scrapbooks.
Biographical materials include items concerning Kainen's career as a curator and artist, in addition to a useful bibliography, detailed biographical outline, and a copy of an FBI report compiled on him. Also included are five videocassette recordings of Kainen.
Alphabetical correspondence/subject files comprise the bulk of the collection and include both Jacob's and Ruth's correspondence with family, friends, colleagues, artists, art critics, curators, museums, arts organizations, galleries, and many others. There is a significant amount of correspondence with David Acton, the Addison Gallery of Art and Jock Reynolds, William Agee, Australian National Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Avis Berman, the British Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Elizabeth Broun and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bryce Butler, Pheobe Cole, the Corcoran Gallery and School of Art, Richard Field, Ruth Fine, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Newton Frohlich, Gordon Gilkey and the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Arshile Gorky, Piri Halesz, Carol Harrison, Donald Holden, Wilhelmina Holladay, John Baptist Jackson, Jim Jordon, Lou Kantor, Harry Lunn Jr., Middendorf Gallery, National Gallery of Art, Peter Morse, Gerald Nordland, Francis O'Connor, Jerome Pollack, Richard Powell, Ann Purcell, Harry Rand, Martin Ries, Joseph Solman, Leo Steinberg, Prentiss Taylor, Victorino Tejera, Valerie Thornton, Joanne Weber, and numerous family members.
Writings are by and about Jacob Kainen. Kainen's writings include articles, lectures, exhibition catalog essays, notes, travel notebooks, short stories, poems, and written statements about his artistic motivations and justifications. There are writings about Kainen by Avis Berman, Ruth Cole Kainen, and others. The bulk of the numerous diary entries are from Ruth Cole Kainen's diaries, many of which concern Jacob and their family. There are also annotated and revised diary entries. There is one folder of diary entries and one folder of journal entries by Jacob Kainen and two dismantled journal-like notebooks. The papers include daily calendars and travel itineraries from 1972 through 2001.
The papers include transcripts of formal interviews and informal conversations with Jacob Kainen. Transcripts are of informal dinner, telephone, and general conversations between friends, colleagues, artists, and Ruth Cole Kainen. Included are conversations with Avis Berman, Walter Hopps, Harry Rand, Joshua Taylor, and several others. Many of these transcripts were also annnotated by Jacob and Ruth Kainen. Also found are numerous transcripts of more formal interviews with Kainen by art historians, art critics, and students.
There are inventories, appraisals, and lists of sold and not sold paintings, as well as color photographs of some of Kainen's works of art. Also found are inventories of the Kainens' art collection. Printed materials include Kainen's exhibition catalogs and announcements, clippings of articles by and about Jacob Kainen, and an exhibition guestbook.
Photographs are of Kainen with his family and friends, at exhibition openings, and working in his studios. Works of art by others includes handmade greeting cards, limited edition prints, and portfolios given to Jacob Kainen. Nine scrapbooks containing news clippings and exhibition publications document the entirety of Kainen's career as an artist.
Arrangement:
The Jacob Kainen papers are arranged into 11 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-2001 (Boxes 1, 32; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence/Subject Files, 1936-2003 (Boxes 1-12, 32-33; 11.8 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings, circa 1920s-2002 (Boxes 12-13, 33; 1.6 linear feet)
Series 4: Diaries, circa 1952-2002 (Boxes 13-18, 33-38; 10.0 linear feet)
Series 5: Calendars, 1953-2008 (Boxes 18-20, 38; 1.7 linear feet)
Series 6: Transcripts, circa 1975-1994 (Boxes 20-21, 38; 1.4 linear feet)
Series 7: Inventories, 1927-2001 (Boxes 21-22; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 8: Printed Material, 1938-2003 (Box 22, 38, OV 31; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 9: Photographs, 1905-2000 (Boxes 22-25, 38, OV 31; 3.3 linear feet)
Series 10: Works of Art by Others, 1942-2000 (Boxes 25-26, OV 31; 1.2 linear foot)
Series 11: Scrapbooks, 1936-1998 (Boxes 27-30, 38; 1.3 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Jacob Kainen (1909-2001) was a painter, printmaker, and curator who worked primarily in Washington, D.C.
Born on December 7, 1909 in Waterbury, Connecticut, Jacob Kainen moved with his family to New York City in 1918. Kainen studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn from 1927 until 1930, and at the Art Student's League. In the early 1930s, Kainen became involved in social causes and formed close friendships with the early abstractionists, including John Graham, Arshile Gorky, and Stuart Davis. He joined the Artists' Union and a contributor to its journal, Art Front, along with Stuart Davis and Harold Rosenberg. Jacob's participation in the Artists' Union was later investigated by the FBI.
From 1935 until 1942, Kainen worked for the Graphic Arts Division of the Works Progress Administration in New York City and began exhibiting with the New York School. It was during this period that he married Bertha Friedman. Jacob and Bertha had two sons together, Dan and Paul, and divorced in 1968.
1947 marked the opening of the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts, where Kainen served as a teacher and guide to several important artists, helping to make the workshop a magnet for new talent and instrumental in furthering the careers of several artists. Although Kainen taught Gene Davis and Alma Thomas and introduced Morris Louis to Leon Berkowitz, he never considered himself a member of the "Washington Color School."
In 1949, the Corcoran Gallery of Art held a retrospective of Kainen's prints and three years later Kenneth Noland organized Kainen's first painting retrospective at Catholic University. Kainen's paintings from the 1940s illustrated a shift away from social realism toward abstract expressionism. In 1956, Jacob Kainen received a grant from the American Philosophical society to conduct research in Europe for his monograph on the English woodcut artist, John Baptist Jackson. He traveled to Europe again in 1962 to study paintings and prints from the Mannerist Period.
From 1966 until 1970, Kainen worked as the Curator of prints and drawings at the National Collection of Fine Arts (now the Smithsonian American Art Museum). He married Ruth Cole in February of 1969. Kainen retired from the Smithsonian a year later to devote himself full-time to his art, but continued to serve as a special consultant to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for nineteen years. In 1971 and 1972, Kainen taught painting and the history of printmaking at the University of Maryland. A retrospective of Kainen's paintings was held in 1993 at the National Museum of American Art (SAAM).
Throughout his artistic career, Kainen experimented with different mediums and explored different styles, yet he identified himself as a painter. Jacob Kainen participated in at least twenty-five one man shows and several group exhibitions. His works are in collections across the United States and abroad, including the National Gallery of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the British Museum. He worked in his studio up until the time of his death on March 19, 2001 at his home in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
Related Material:
Found among the holdings of the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Jacob Kainen conducted by Avis Berman in 1982 for the Archives' "Mark Rothko and His Times" oral history project. Also found are microfilm copies of Bertha Kainen's correspondence with Avis Berman regarding Berman's essay about Jacob Kainen.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels 565, 2147-2149, and 2200) including correspondence, writings by Kainen, and papers relating to the Smithsonian Institution Loyalty Board's investigation of Jacob Kainen from 1942-1954. Most, but not all, of the loaned materials were included in later gifts. Loaned materials not donated at a later date remain with the lender and are not described in the container listing of this finding aid.
Provenance:
Jacob and Ruth Kainen first lent the Archives of American Art material for microfilming from 1973-1981, the bulk of which was included in the later gifts. Papers were then donated in multiple accretions between 1981-2007 by Jacob and Ruth Kainen, and in 2009 from the estate of Ruth Kainen via executor Teresa Covacevich Grana. Also in 2003, eight photographs of Jacob and Ruth Kainen were transferred from the National Portrait Gallery to the Archives of American Art.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Smithsonian Institution. Anacostia Community Museum Search this
Extent:
1 Sound recording (audio cassette)
Type:
Archival materials
Sound recordings
Place:
New York (N.Y.)
Anacostia (Washington, D.C.)
Washington (D.C.)
United States
Date:
1986
Scope and Contents:
Washington artist Prentiss Taylor recalled the Harlem Renaissance. Taylor once lived in New York City where he met and forged friendships wtih Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Carl Van Vechten, Richmond Barthe, Zora Neale Hurston, and others. During his presentation, Taylor relived many of the memories of these relationships.
Lunch bag forum. Audio only. Poor audio quality. Related to exhibition 'The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties.' Dated 19860606.
Biographical / Historical:
The exhibition - The Renaissance: Black Arts of the Twenties - showcased the evolution and achievements of the Renaissance, which was the explosion of literary, visual, performance, and cinematic creativity generated by black artists between the end of World War I and the early days of the Great Depression. Represented is the creativity of Marian Anderson, Richard Barthe, Countee Cullen, Aaron Douglas, Duke Ellington, Meta Warrick Fuller, Roland Hayes, Zora Neale Hurston, Malvin Gray Johnson, Alain Locke, "Jelly Roll" Morton, Paul Robeson, George Schuyler, and Wallace Thurman, among others. The exhibition, held at the Anacostia Neighborhood Museum, ran from September 1985 - December 1986.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV001230_B
Series Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
Prentiss Taylor talks about working with Langston Hughes to create The Negro Mother and the Scottsboro Limited. The illustrations created by Taylor, and the texts created by Hughes. Taylor talks about Hughes' personality and their relationship to Carl Van Vechten. Additionally, Taylor speaks of the Ethiopian Art Theatre, Rose McClendon, and the origin of Van Vechten's Nigger Heaven.
Interview. Sound is distorted. Part of ACM Museum Events, PR, and Ceremonies Recordings. Undated.
Local Numbers:
ACMA AV003312-2
Collection Restrictions:
Use of the materials requires an appointment. Some items are not accessible due to obsolete format and playback machinery restrictions. Please contact the archivist at acmarchives@si.edu.
An interview of Adele S. Brown and William H. Calfee conducted 1995 January 11, by Liza Kirwin, at Calfee's home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, for the Archives of American Art.
Brown and Calfee speak of their roles in Phillips Studio House. They recall Law Watkins, Karl Knaths, Duncan Phillips, Bernice Cross, Bob Gates, Marjorie Phillips, Alice Acheson, John Marin, George Groves, Harold West, Adelyn Breeskin, Kenneth Noland, Jack Tworkov, Caresse Crosby, Prentiss Taylor, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Brown, an art administrator in Washington, D.C., managed the sales gallery of the Phillips Studio House from 1933-1937. Calfee, a painter and sculptor, taught at the art school affiliated with Studio House from 1933 until it closed in 1945. Phillips Studio House, founded by C. Law Watkins, Associate Director of the Phillips Memorial Gallery, was both an art school and commercial gallery. It opened in November 1933, and closed in 1945 upon Watkins' death. In 1946 Calfee and a group of artists affiliated with the school were asked to form the first art department faculty at American University for which he served as its department head until 1954.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 33 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Washington (D.C.) Search this
Correspondence and subject files relate to the activities of Ward, including his membership in the Society of American Graphic Artists, and his collaborative work with his wife, May McNeer Ward.
Correspondents include Fritz Eichenberg, Wanda Gág, Harry Gottlieb, Jacob Kainen, Rockwell Kent, Louis Lozowick, Elizabeth McCausland, Diego Rivera, Prentiss Taylor, and Carl Zigrosser, as well as bookdealers, collectors, children, writers, galleries and museums, publishing and printing companies, advertising and public relations firms, religious organizations, and art, civic, and political associations and societies. Letters are often accompanied by enclosures such as writings and printed material.
Subject files contain awards, drafts and typescripts of Ward's writings, lectures, and speeches, notes, outlines and galley proofs for McNeer's and Ward's books, scripts for radio broadcasts, book contracts and royalty statements, lists of Ward's graphic works, illustrations and Christmas cards by Ward, exhibition announcements and catalogs, clippings, reviews, newsletters, bulletins, press releases, and miscellaneous printed material.
Biographical / Historical:
Lynd Ward: Printmaker, illustrator, writer. Died 1985. May McNeer: Children's book author. Died 1994. Born Chicago, Lynd Kendall Ward majored in Fine Arts at the Teachers College, Columbia University, where he illustrated school publications until his graduation in 1926. In the same year he married May McNeer of Tampa, Florida. They collaborated on many books written by McNeer and illustrated by Ward. Between 1926 and 1927, Ward studied at the National Academy for Graphic Arts in Leipzig, Germany, working with Alois Kolb, George Mathey, and Hans A. Mueller. Ward was a prolific graphic artist, illustrating over one hundred books including GODS' MAN and other woodcut novels produced between 1929 and 1937.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1985 by Georgetown University.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Andrew A. Bucci. Andrew A. Bucci Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 19--. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Un-Ichi Hiratsuka. Un-Ichi Hiratsuka Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 1970. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Carson Davenport. Carson Davenport Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 1960. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Helen Gerardia. Helen Gerardia Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 1972. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Kathleen Mary Spagnolo. Kathleen Spagnolo Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 19--. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Noche Crist. Noche Crist Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, between 1962 and 1975. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Prentiss Taylor. Prentiss Taylor photograph album of friends and family, between 1908 and 1936. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Prentiss Taylor. Prentiss Taylor Christmas card, 1932 Dec.. Robert Franklin Gates papers, 1910-1988. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Aaron Copland. Aaron Copeland, Paris, France postcard to Prentiss Taylor, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., 1930 June 13. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Chester Leich. Chester Leich christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, 1959. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Un-Ichi Hiratsuka. Un-Ichi Hiratsuka Christmas card to Prentiss Taylor, ca. 1970. Prentiss Taylor papers, 1885-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
