An interview of Harold Rosenberg conducted 1970 December 17-1973 January 28, by Paul Cummings for the Archives of American Art over nine sessions.
Rosenberg speaks on a wide variety of topics including Marxism and Communism; art criticism; teaching and the philosopy of art; how his interest in art developed over the years; getting his writings published and starting a magazine; what intrigues him about the avant-garde; when and why he started painting; action painting; the inaccuracies in art history about Avant-gardism and Surrealism; working as a mural painter for the College Art Association; moving from the WPA's art project to the writer's project, and becoming an art editor; what happened to the works of art done under the WPA after it ended; and moving to the Hamptons.
He speaks in detail on the New York art scene during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s; The Club; writing about art; politics and art; Shakespeare and literature's influence on art and vice versa; the various economic aspects of art; how the Depression affected him and the people he knew; the projects he worked on in the WPA; and working for the OWI after the WPA disbanded.
He recalls Mark Rothko, Harold Baumbach, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Peter Blume, Helen Lundberg, André Breton, Arshile Gorky, Roberto Matta, Jackson Pollock, David Smith, Lee Krasner, Fernand Léger, Joan Miró, Jim Leshay, Stuart Davis, Bruce Inverarity, Barney Newman, Mark Tobey, Gregorio Prestopino, and many others.
Biographical / Historical:
Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978) was a writer and educator from New York, N.Y.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound tapes. Reformatted in 2010 as 9 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hr., 4 min.
Interview transcript is not in chronological order; arrangement designated by the interviewer Paul Cummings.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Correspondence; scrapbooks; material on David Smith; records relating to Lee Gatch; notebooks on Morris Graves and Mark Tobey; and miscellany.
REEL NWI-1: Four notebooks, 1936-1959, with reproductions of works by Morris Graves, and three notebooks, 1917-1959, with reproductions of works by Mark Tobey.
REEL NLG-1: Correspondence between Gatch and Marian Willard, concerning Gatch's business relations with dealer J. B. Neumann, exhibitions and sales. Also included are clippings and biographical notes.
REEL NDSmithA: Card file of sculpture by David Smith, including title of work, date, material, size and price.
REELS N69-114 & N69-116: Scrapbooks, 1936-1969, including clippings, catalogs, photographs and occasional correspondence documenting Marian Willard's founding in 1936 of the East River Gallery, later (1938) the Neumann-Willard Gallery; her introduction of rental art, an innovation in the American art trade, and gallery exhibitions of various artists. Considerable exhibition and critical material for artists regularly shown by the Gallery is included: Lyonel Feininger, David Smith, Loren MacIver, David Hayes, Mark Tobey, Ezio Martinelli and Louis Schanker. Also included letters one from Lyonel Feininger, Lewis Mumford and Archibald MacLeish, congratulating Miss Willard on the Gallery's opening.
REELS N69-116-N69-118: Scrapbooks, 1928-1969, containing photographs, exhibition catalogs, critical articles, incidental correspondence, and price lists for the following artists: Juan Luis Bunuel, Sylvia Braverman, Leo Kenney, Thomas Stearns, Lenore Tawney, Morris Graves, David Hayes, Genichiro Inokuma, Tadashi Sato, Richard Lippold, Philip McCracken, Charles Seliger, and Mark Tobey.
REEL 822: A scrapbook of the Willard Gallery, 1972 and a scrapbook containing clippings and announcements about Ann Wilson, 1972, and about William Pettet, 1973.
REEL 986: Correspondence file on David Smith, 458 letters, 1940-1956 and 1966. Included are correspondence between Marian Willard and Smith, letters to Willard from Smith's wife, Dorothy Dehner, and other correspondence with the Gallery relating to Smith. In addition there are press releases, lists of Smith's works, exhibition catalogs, biographical material, and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery; New York, N.Y. Founded 1936 by Marian Willard as East River Gallery. In 1938 changed to Neumann-Willard Gallery, then later became the Willard Gallery ca. 1945. Gallery remains in operation and still has possession of original documents lent to and filmed by the Archives as of 1992.
Provenance:
Material on reels NWI-1, NLG-1, N69-114, N69-116-N69-118 & 822 lent for microfilming 1959-1974; and material on reels NDSmithA & 986 donated 1966 & 1974 by Marian Willard.
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:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Topic:
Women art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States Search this
Function:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York
Letters, writings, a sketchbook, a scrapbook, art work and printed material relating to Keen and to her teacher, painter Mark Tobey.
Included are letters received; files on artists, friends, and others, containing letters, printed material and photographs, 1948-1978, including Tobey (41 letters, 1938-1969), Mario Bambagini, Phyllis Cummins, Frederick Dockstader, Jonathan Gibson, Colin Graham, Mildred Johnstone, Mary Kennedy, Sally Lewis, Dr. E.A. Lowe, Barbara Morgan, Ben Nicholson, Nancy Wilson Ross, Walter Starcke, Lynne Thompson, and Vaclav Vytlacil; two notebooks kept by Keen regarding her lessons under Tobey, 1936-1945; Keen's essays "The Lesson Days," 1976, and "Searchings," 1977; Tobey's notes on his approach to painting, undated; a sketchbbook, 1947, containing sketches, notes on Keen's Art Students League calligraphy class, and writings by Eduard Corvin, Isak Dinesen, and D.T. Suzuki;
a scrapbook containing reviews of Keen's work, exhibition announcements, and photographs of Keen, her friends, and an installation; photographs of Tobey, his home in Switzerland, and of work by Tobey and by Keen; and printed material, including exhibition announcments and catalogs, clippings, brochures, and reproductions regarding Tobey, Keen, and the Annie Wright School, Tacoma, Wash.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; New York, N.Y. Keen received her early schooling at the Annie Wright School in Tacoma, Wash., where her father was a trustee for over twenty years. Beginning in the mid-1930s, she studied under Mark Tobey for ten years, and at the Art Students League under Corbino, Hale, and Vytlacil.
Provenance:
Donated 1975-1984 by Helen Boyd Keen.
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.
An interview of Katharine Kuh conducted 1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and His Times oral history project.
Kuh speaks of her invalid childhood in Chicago, the development of her interest in art, classes in art history at Vassar College, and her career as curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She recalls in particular the "Sanity in Art" movement against modern art in Chicago. Kuh describes her relationship with Mark Rothko and Rothko's relationships with Mark Tobey, Clyfford Still, Kate Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, Milton Avery, Stanley Kunitz, and Hans Hofmann.
Kuh discusses her parents, the family silk business, travelling in Europe as a child, life in Chicago, the effects of polio and other illnesses on her interests, and her student years at Vassar College. She remembers visiting Bernard Berenson in Italy with her family and again with Daniel Catton Rich, with whom she worked very closely at the Art Institute of Chicago. She speaks of the Katharine Kuh Gallery, which she started in the mid-1930s and its place in the vanguard of the Chicago art scene.
Kuh remembers the effects of the stock market crash on her personal situation, her marriage to businessman George Kuh, distaste for life in the suburbs, and her divorce. She discusses the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the actions taken against her business by members of the reactionary "Sanity in Art" movement (including a very funny anecdote concerning Carlos Merida). She speaks of the classes in modern art that she taught at her gallery and of some of the artists she exhibited there, including the photographers Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston.
Kuh remembers the McCarthy era and the political conservatism in Chicago, including her testimony on behalf of Bill Zimmerman, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs. She criticizes blockbuster exhibitions and the changes in the role of a museum curator. She reminisces about building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and the art education program she ran there, and recalls Stuart Davis, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Gyorgy Kepes, and Ivan Albright.
Kuh remembers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Marcel Duchamp, as well as the collectors Walter Paepcke and Walter and Louise Arensberg (whose collection she surveyed in their home for an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago).
Kuh focuses on her memories of Mark Rothko, recalling when they met, their friendship, his manner of working, his feelings about his work, and his worries towards the end of his life. She talks about Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, and Mark Tobey. Some parts of this tape repeat what she said earlier.
Kuh continues discussing Rothko, particularly his Houston chapel murals and the retrospective exhibition at MOMA in 1961. She remembers visiting Rothko's studio and describes his working methods. She relates Rothko's views on other artists, including Milton Avery, Clyfford Still, Turner, Robert Motherwell, and Adolf Gottlieb; parts repeat things said before. Kuh also discusses Rothko's wife and daughter.
Kuh recounts building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and speaks of the museum staff, trustees, and donors. She remembers Alfred Barr at MOMA.
Kuh continues speaking about the Art Institute of Chicago, describing the circumstances of her resignation and subsequent move to New York. She talks of knowing Peggy Guggenheim, Max Ernst, and Fernand Leger.
Kuh describes her work as a consultant to college museums and her writings. She discusses the field of art criticism and her career as art editor at Saturday Review. She recalls Clyfford Still's retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his death.
Kuh describes her work as a collector for the First National Bank of Chicago.
Kuh recounts more about her work at Saturday Review and her resignation. She goes into great detail about her travels in Alaska and British Columbia surveying Northwest Indian art for a government report. She speaks again about the McCarthy era.
Kuh speaks again about the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the artists she exhibited there, including Josef Albers (and his Black Mountain College), Alexander Archipenko, Stuart Davis, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, and Man Ray.
Kuh continues her discussion of artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including Mark Tobey, Paul Klee, and Isamu Noguchi.
Kuh continues talking about artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including David Smith, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eliot Porter, Rufino Tamayo, and Jack Tworkov.
Biographical / Historical:
Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was an art consultant, curator, and critic from Chicago and New York City.
General:
Originally recorded on 16 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 31 digital wav files. Duration is 21 hrs., 52 min.
Provenance:
This interview was conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and his Times oral history project, with funding provided by the Mark Rothko Foundation.
Others interviewed on the project (by various interviewers) include: Sonia Allen, Sally Avery, Ben-Zion, Bernard Braddon, Ernest Briggs, Rhys Caparn, Elaine de Kooning, Herbert Ferber, Esther Gottlieb, Juliette Hays, Sidney Janis, Buffie Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Louis Kaufman, Jack Kufeld, Stanley Kunitz, Joseph Liss, Dorothy Miller, Betty Parsons, Wallace Putnam, Rebecca Reis, Maurice Roth, Sidney Schectman, Aaron Siskind, Joseph Solman, Hedda Sterne, Jack Tworkov, Esteban Vicente and Ed Weinstein. Each has been cataloged separately.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Rights:
Authorization to publish, quote or reproduce must be obtained from name on file.
1.7 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 2 reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1944-1977
Scope and Contents:
Correspondence; writings; articles; speeches; tv and film scripts; exhibition catalogs; clippings; and motion picture films.
REEL D342: Correspondence relating to Lippold's commissions; writings; articles and speeches; exhibition catalogs; miscellaneous publications; and clippings. Correspondents include: Josef Albers, William Baziotes, Naum Gabo, Morris Graves, Walter Gropius, Mark Rothko, Eero Saarinen, and Mark Tobey.
REEL N69-24: Correspondence; catalogs; clippings; writings; and papers relating to the Conference on Government Participation in the Arts and Humanities.
UNMICROFILMED: Correspondence, writings, and printed matter, 1953-1977, and a motion picture, "The Sun and Richard Lippold." Much of the correspondence relates to Lippold's sculpture commissions, such as work for St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, and for the North Carolina National Bank. Also included are personal letters, catalogs, speeches, film and television scripts, other writings, and two films with footage of Lippold's "World Tree" at Harvard University, and "Orpheus and Apollo" at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
Biographical / Historical:
Sculptor; New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
Material on reel D342 and unmicrofilmed material donated 1968 & 1977 by Richard Lippold; material on reel N69-24 lent for microfilming 1969 by Lippold.
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.
