Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with James Lechay, 1998 July 9-Aug. 26. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Wellfleet -- Interviews Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Interview of James Lechay, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution at Lechay's home in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on July 9-Aug. 26, 1998.
Lechay speaks of his early childhood in the Bronx, N.Y.; copying paintings at the Metropolitan Museum under the tutelage of his elder brother Myron; discontinuing his study of psychology at the University of Illinois in 1929 to return to NYC to paint; taking odd jobs to counter his extreme poverty in the early 1930s; his first exhibition at Another Place (1936), a gallery run by De Hirsh Margules; praise from David Siqueiros, the Mexican muralist; his first trip to Provincetown (1930); exhibiting several times at the Whitney Museum (and others) but not at MoMA; touring NYC galleries on Fridays; meeting Marsden Hartley and Alfred Stieglitz; his friendship with Arshile Gorky; serving as a juror for the 1940s Momentum exhibition with Jackson Pollock and Max Weber; teaching at the University of Iowa in 1945, succeeding Philip Guston; his luck in having, since 1935, a New York dealer; his work as self-referential; being repelled by art fashions and not compromising his work in order to sell; the appearance of simplicity in his work. Lechay also recalls Raphael and Moses Soyer, Abraham Walkowitz, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
James Lechay (1907-2001) was a painter from Wellfleet, Mass.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hrs., 17 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:
This transcript is open for research. Access to the entire audio recording is restricted. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Wellfleet -- Interviews Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Sponsor:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
The records of the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, and its predecessor the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, Ohio, measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1943-1989. Records consist of correspondence, artist files, exhibition files, business records, writings, and video recordings that document the activities of Wise's gallery in Cleveland from 1957-1961 and, to a lesser extent, his gallery in New York City from 1960-1970. Wise's activities following the closing of the Howard Wise Gallery are also found among the correspondence, artist files, business records, writings, and video recordings.
Scope and Content Note:
The records of the Howard Wise Gallery in New York, and its predecessor the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, Ohio, measure 11.4 linear feet and date from 1943-1989. Records consist of correspondence, artist files, exhibition files, business records, writings, and video recordings that document the activities of Wise's gallery in Cleveland from 1957-1961 and, to a lesser extent, his gallery in New York City from 1960-1970. Wise's activities following the closing of the Howard Wise Gallery are also found among the correspondence, artist files, business records, writings, and video recordings.
Correspondence documents the operations of Wise's galleries in Cleveland and New York. A few subject files and a small amount of Howard Wise's personal correspondence (some pre-dating and post-dating the galleries) are also included in this series.
Artist files contain varying combinations of correspondence, printed material, notes and writings, and photographs. Most artists represented in this series were affiliated with Howard Wise Gallery either in Cleveland or New York City, but some files are for individuals of potential interest to the gallery, and those of continued interest to Wise after the closing of the gallery. Exhibition files contain correspondence, printed material, guest lists, and notes. Exhibition files are not a comprehensive record of exhibitions held in Wise's galleries.
Business records include records of cash disbursements that are primarily for Howard Wise's travel and entertainment expenses. Business memoranda and correspondence between the Cleveland and New York galleries document sales, inventory, shipments and financial information. Also among the business records are photographs of the Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture in Cleveland, a set of slides of artworks and installation views dating to the late 1950s, and inventories and loan documentation related to Howard Wise's personal art collection. Writings consist of essays and speeches by Howard Wise, writings on Howard Wise and the Howard Wise Gallery artists by Douglas MacAgy and Marita Sturken, and a typescript recollection of a dinner party conversation with Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger from 1973.
Video recordings include 41 videoreels and videocassettes, a log book of video shot by Wise in the early 1970s, and a program for a screening of his videos held in Wellfleet, Mass. Recordings are mainly unedited footage of interviews with artists and community figures, gallery openings, and other community events in Wellfleet, Mass. and the greater Cape Cod region. A log book and detailed labels on videos provide details about their content. Three edited works made by Wise from the raw footage include "video portraits" of Serge Chermayeff, Edwin Dickinson, and Jack Tworkov. Also found is footage from the premiere performance of Jean Dubuffet's Coucou Bazaar at the Guggenheim Museum, and a dinner party attended by Dubuffet. Video of works by other artists include footage from media and kinetic artworks shown in the Howard Wise Gallery from 1964-1967, as well as a video performance by Hannah Wilke from 1974.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1943-1984 (Boxes 1-2; 2.0 linear ft.)
Series 2: Artist Files, 1950-1984 (Boxes 3-6; 3.4 linear ft.)
Series 3: Exhibition Files, 1957-1968 (Boxes 6-7; 0.9 linear ft.)
Series 4: Business Records, 1957-1989 (Boxes 7-9; 2.6 linear ft.)
Series 5: Writings, 1957-1984 (Box 9; 4 folders)
Series 6: Video Recordings, 1973-1985 (2.5 linear feet)
Historical Note:
After twenty-five years as president of Arco Company, his family's industrial paint and varnish manufacturing business in Cleveland, Howard Wise (1903-1989) sold his interest in the business and began to pursue his own artistic interests. The Howard Wise Gallery of Present Day Painting and Sculpture opened in Cleveland in 1957 and operated for the next five years. It first showed School of Paris and New York painters and also sold prints. With the exception of a few collectors and loyal customers, Clevelanders did not appreciate Wise's efforts to bring the best new art from all over the world to the city. The Cleveland Plain Dealer ran several editorials ridiculing modern art in general and Howard Wise and his gallery in particular. Attendance was poor and Wise decided to relocate to New York.
After a year of searching for a suitable location and renovating the space, Howard Wise Gallery opened at 50 West 57th Street in 1960. The gallery generated excitement among visitors and artists, and sales and attendance were much better than in Cleveland. After closing the Cleveland gallery in 1961 Wise never again returned to his native city. Despite being well received and conducting significantly more business in New York, the gallery was not a great financial success. Between 1962 and 1965, art consultant Douglas MacAgy, a friend and the former director of the Dallas Museum of Art, worked with Wise in running the gallery. Although the critics were not always favorably impressed, Howard Wise Gallery had a significant following and made important contributions through its support of the use of technology in art, specifically kinetic and light sculpture and the video art movement.
By the late 1960s, Wise recognized that a gallery setting was not suitable for many of the new art forms. He closed Howard Wise Gallery in 1970 so that he could focus his energy and resources on exploring the best way to support environmental sculpture, political work, and video art. Wise founded Electronic Arts Intermix in 1971. Originally an artist-run umbrella organization, today Electronic Arts Intermix is a non-profit videotape distribution service and editing facility, that has amassed an important and highly regarded video art collection.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Howard Wise conducted by Paul Cummings on February 22, 1971. The Harvard Art Museum Archives also holds archival records of the Howard Wise Gallery.
Separated Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reel N70-77) including publicity materials, correspondence, exhibition plans, text of an exhibition catalog, and photographs relating to Howard Kiesler. Lent materials were returned to the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
In 1979, the Howard Wise Gallery lent material to the Archives of American Art for microfilming. The rest of the collection was donated by Howard Wise in 1971 and by Barbara Wise, Howard Wise's widow via Dana Kasarsky, Wise's daughter-in-law in 2011.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. 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.
Portions of taped interviews conducted by Weeden in the summer of 1970 and by Karl Fortess, ca. 1970, are combined with footage shot in fall 1970 in Dickinson's home and studio in Wellfleet, Mass. Dickinson speaks mostly of his painting.
Biographical / Historical:
Dickinson was a painter. Died 1978.
Provenance:
Donated 1993 by Robert S.D. Weeden.
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.
Topic:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Wellfleet -- Interviews Search this
Letters; reel-to-reel tape recordings; a transcript of an interview conducted by Sara London, 1994; two scrapbooks, 1936-1947 and 1948-1984; lecture notes including "A Few Notes on Myron Lechay" and other draft writings; photographs of exhibition installations; exhibition catalogs and announcements; magazine and newspaper clippings, and other printed material. Letters from Leonard Bocour, Wilfred P. Cohen, Philip Evergood, Frank Everly, Gerrit Hondius, Antoinette Kraushaar, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, De Hirsh Margules, Salvatore Meo, Max Weber, Sol Wilson, and others; reel-to-reel tape recordings include an interview of Lechay conducted by Karl Fortess, undated, a recording of Lechay, "Cedar Falls, May 1966," and a 1964 recording of Lechay and Irving Marantz, "SIU art exhibition," April 11, 1964. Also included are the papers of Lecahay's brother, painter Myron Lechay (0.2 linear ft.), including letters and postcards,1928-1946, from Valentine Dudensing, C. Adolph Glassgold, Stuart Davis, and others; writings; photographs of Myron Lechay and his works of art; checklists of works of art; catalogs, announcements, press releases, and other printed material; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter; Wellfleet, Mass.; Died 2001; taught at University of Iowa Myron Lechay was James Lechay's brother.
Provenance:
Donated 2005 by Daniel Lechay, son of James Lechay and nephew of Myron Lechay.
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:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Wellfleet Search this
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.
Collection Citation:
Jacques Seligmann & Co. records, 1904-1978, bulk 1913-1974. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Processing of the collection was funded by the Getty Grant Program; digitization of the collection was funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. Glass plate negatives in this collection were digitized in 2019 with funding provided by the Smithsonian Women's Committee.
Transcript of an interview with Serge Chermayeff conducted May 23-24, 1985 by Betty J. Blum at Chermayeff's home in Wellfleet, Mass. The interview was conducted for the Chicago Architects Oral History Project, under the auspices of the Art Institue of Chicago's Department of Architecture. Included with the transcript is a preface, index, and selected bibliography. The focus of the interview is Chermayeff's tenure (1946-1951) as president and director of the Institute of Design (formerly New Bauhaus) in Chicago.
Biographical / Historical:
Architect, educator.
Provenance:
Donated 1998 by the Art Institute of Chicago via Jack Perry Brown.
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 donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own.
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.
Authorization to publish, quote, or reproduce requires written permission from Ryerson and Burnham Libraries of the Art Institute of Chicago. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Topic:
Architects -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews Search this
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. Collection, Acc. 1992.0023, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Series contains video footage shot by Howard Wise, mainly of interviews with artists in Wellfleet, Mass. and other Cape Cod locations. Most of the video recordings by Wise contain raw, unedited footage, and individual tapes may contain more than one subject. A video log book containing notes on many of the videos lists additional subjects for each tape, with page numbers corresponding to numbers on tapes. Many tapes also have detailed labels. A few of the interviews seem to have been edited later into a series Wise called "Video Portraits," including intervies with Serge Chermeyeff, Edwin Dickinson, and Jack Tworkov. A printed program for a public screening of these works, called "Video Capers" is found at the beginning of the series. Note that not all of the subjects listed in the program are represented in the extant footage. An interview with Howard Wise is also found. Interviews are on 21 videoreels (1/2") and 4 videocassettes (U-matic)
In addition to interviews, events such as art openings, benefits, gallery tours, local camp activities are documented in the recordings. A dinner party with Jean Dubuffet and Thomas Messer, as well as footage of the premiere performance of Dubuffet's Coucou Bazaar at the Guggenheim Museum, are also found. Recordings of panel discussions held on board an ocean liner, mostly on science subjects, are also found. Events are on 12 videoreels (1/2").
Footage of kinetic, media, and performance artworks includes multiple works from the 1967 Lights in Orbit exhibition and Nam June Paik at Bonino Gallery on 1 videocassette (VHS), multiple Howard Wise Gallery exhibitions from 1964-1965 on two videocassettes (U-matic), including On the Move (1964), Group Zero (1964), Gerald Oster, and Len Lye's Bounding Steel Sculptures (1965). Also found is a video performance by Hannah Wilke labeled "Noh Film" on 1 video reel.
Arrangement:
Video recordings are arranged alphabetically by name for videos whose dominant subject is an individual, followed by videos documenting events in chronological order. Moving image material created by others is arranged at the end of the series.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Howard Wise Gallery records, 1943-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection 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.
Collection Citation:
Howard Wise Gallery records, 1943-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
A visit with Edwin Dickinson [videorecording] / produced by Dorothea Weeden ; filmed and edited by Don Kendall, 1970. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- Massachusetts -- Wellfleet -- Interviews Search this
The administration of the United States National Museum required curators to submit regular reports on the activities of the departments, divisions, and sections. Prior
to about 1900 these reports were often made monthly and semiannually as well as annually. The reports were traditionally submitted to the Director of the National Museum to
be used in preparing the published Annual Report of the United States National Museum. The individual reports, however, were not reproduced in their entirety in the published
Annual Report and generally contain more information than is to be found in the published version.
Reports were stored by the Office of Correspondence and Reports (later known as the Office of Correspondence and Documents), and then by the Office of the Registrar.
Includes reports submitted to the Director of the United States National Museum by curators and administrators.
Gyorgy Kepes and Constance Breuer. Interview with György Kepes in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 1983 August 29. Marcel Breuer papers, 1920-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Edwin Walter Dickinson and Howard Wise. Interview with Edwin Dickinson, 1973 August 28. Howard Wise Gallery records, 1943-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Marcel Breuer and Howard Wise. Interview with Marcel Breuer at his Wellfleet, Mass. cottage, 1973 August 30. Howard Wise Gallery records, 1943-1989. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
![view A visit with Edwin Dickinson [videorecording] / produced by Dorothea Weeden ; filmed and edited by Don Kendall digital asset: Finding aid](https://ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?max=170&id=https://sirismm.si.edu/siris/findingaid.gif "Finding aid")
