Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jennifer Bartlett, 1987 June 18-September 28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Mischa Richter, 1994 September 27-28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biographical accounts, letters (1931-1936), notes, writings, a watercolor sketch, clippings (1913-1934); an exhibition catalog, and photographs of works of art.
Included are 5 letters to Kendall's daughter, Beatrice, 1934-1936, a letter from conservator David Rosen, 1931, and one from Charles Curran complimenting Kendall on his work in the Academy; a release agreement between Sidney Oppenheimer and Kendall regarding Kendall's payment for a "figure or bust" manufactured by the Henry Bonnard Bronze Co., 1900; Kendall family histories;
an edited biographical account; a typescript of an article by Kendall on the Yale University Art School, 1914; a watercolor landscape sketch by Kendall; 5 clippings, 1913-1934; a catalog for a Kendall memorial exhibition at Yale; six photographs of works of art. Also included are
a note from Peter A. Juley & Sons listing negatives of 14 paintings by Kendall; and a two page note listing furniture for disposal.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter. Kendall studied at the Art Students League, with Thomas Eakins in Philadelphia, and in Paris with Oliver Merson at the Ecole des Beaux Arts and became a National Academician in his early thirties. Served as Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Yale University, 1913-1922.
Provenance:
Donated by the Duke County Historical Society, Martha's Vineyard, Mass, who received them from an anonymous donor. [Kendall's father had a home in Vineyard Haven, but little connection with Martha's Vineyard. The Society accepts material relating to Vineyard history.]
Three items received were transferred to the Mass. Historical Society: a typescript of a journal chronicling a voyage from Boston to Calcutta in the Brig. Smyrna, commanded by Kendall's grandfather, H. Rogers Kendall, Jr. (1827-1828); a memorandum of agreement regarding the sale of ships to H. R. Kendall (October 29, 1858); and a typescript of the diary of a Boston wool merchant in London to buy raw wool for New England factories in 1835.
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.
The papers of painter and arts administrator Francis Sumner Merritt measure 5.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 1980. The bulk of the papers document his career as the founding director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Included are biographical materials, personal correspondence, writings and notes, professional files on Haystack and other institutions, printed material, and photographs.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of painter and arts administrator Francis Sumner Merritt measure 5.7 linear feet and date from circa 1930 to 1980. The bulk of the papers document his career as the founding director of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Included are biographical materials, personal correspondence, writings and notes, professional files on Haystack and other institutions, printed material, and photographs.
Biographical materials contain scattered records relating to Merritt's personal life and career including a scrapbook and a print by Fiske Boyd. Professional files create the bulk of the papers and focus on Merritt's arts administration career at Haystack and other institutions including the Flint Institute of Art and Bradford Junior College. Among the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts material are planning materials, correspondence with many craft artists, financial records, student information, printed material, photographs for various sessions held at the school, and one sound recording concerning a trip to Nigeria.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series.
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1936-1977 (Box 1; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 2: Correspondence, circa 1930-1978 (Box 1; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 3: Writings and Notes, circa 1940s-1978 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)
Series 4: Professional Files, 1940s-1980 (Box 1-5, 8; 4.1 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1939-1976 (Box 6-7; 0.4 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1949-1970s (Box 7; 0.2 linear feet)
Biographical / Historical:
Francis Sumner Merritt (1913-2000) was a painter, designer, and arts administrator. He was the first director of the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Deer Isle, Maine.
Merritt was born in 1913 in Danvers, Massachusetts. He studied art at multiple schools, including Yale University School of Fine Arts and was a printmaker and painter. In addition to his art, Merritt taught painting at Colby Junior College, the Cranbrook Summer Institute, and Bradford Junior College. Merritt began his arts administrative career as director of the Flint Institute of Art in Detroit, Michigan. He was brought on to be the first director at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. In this position, he encouraged the international study of craft.
Francis Merritt was married to Priscilla Merritt, with whom he had two sons. He died in Belfast, Maine in 2000.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts records, 1950-1969, and an oral history interview of Francis Sumner Merritt conducted 1979 May 25-June 25, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Provenance:
Francis Sumner Merritt donated his papers in two accessions in 1980 and 1994.
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 copies requires advance notice.
Occupation:
Arts administrators -- Maine -- Deer Isle Search this
An interview with Mischa Richter conducted 1994 September 27-28, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Richter tells of his life as the only child of a prosperous Jewish family in Kharkov, Ukraine, where he showed early precocity in drawing. He remembers the Russian Revolution, being taken to Poland in 1921, and then in 1922 to New York and Boston. He discusses his education in Boston, including drawing lessons with Harold Zimmerman at which he got to know Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine; and classes at the Museum School in Boston from 1929 to 1930.
He speaks of his long-time friendship with Will Barnet, attending Yale School of Fine Arts, 1930-1934, and painting a WPA mural for the Boston Boys Club in 1935. He remembers meeting Will Steig, deciding to become a cartoonist, and selling enough drawings to leave the WPA to work as art editor for "The New Masses," where he became close friends with Ad Reinhardt. He discusses becoming a contract cartoonist in 1940 for "The New Yorker;" his avoidance of art dealers, because they demand steady production yet have no known goals, unlike a magazine; his abhorrence of taking himself, or others, too seriously; the perils of early success and the pettiness of many matters in the art community of Provincetown, Mass.; and the nature of his paintings.
Biographical / Historical:
Mischa Richter (1910-2001) was a painter and cartoonist from New York, N.Y. and Provincetown, Mass. Richter was born in the Ukraine. He came to the United States in 1922, attending special art classes for gifted students at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and subsequently graduating from the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1934. After working on the WPA art project as a mural painter in New York, he turned to cartooning, doing editorial and humorous cartoons for the daily newspaper, PM, and then becoming art editor for the New Masses. In 1941 he began his longtime affiliation with the New Yorker, as well as producing daily panels, "Strictly Richter" and "Bugs Baer" for King Features. In the 1970s and 1980s, Richter did numerous drawings for the OpEd page of the New York Times. Died March 23, 2001, at age 90.
General:
Sound quality is poor.
Originally recorded on 3 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 43 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.
Occupation:
Cartoonists -- Massachusetts -- Provincetown -- Interviews Search this
An interview with Walter Feldman conducted 1998 Aug. 10, by Robert Brown, for the the Archives of American Art, in Feldman's home, Providence, R.I.
Feldman discusses attending classes as a youth, 1939-1942, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; attending Yale's School of Fine Arts, 1942; service in combat infantry in the U.S. Army, Europe, 1943-1946; completing his BFA at Yale, 1946-1950 and MFA, 1951; working as an instructor in painting at Yale until his appointment at Brown University (1953; professor 1961) where he continues to teach; exhibitions and commissions; working in painting, printmaking, mosaics, and in fine book making.
He discusses working as the sole studio art teacher at Brown University until mid-1960s; hiring of additional artist-teachers and the subsequent split of the art department between studio art and art history; bringing book arts to Brown with his establishment of the Brown/Ziggurat Press, which he directs and which mostly publishes poetry; the many visiting arists at Brown; frequent commissions which have kept him young in spirit; and working in widely divergent media: medals, mosaics, and a huge mural commission in 1976; discussion of leading examples of his handmade books, including James Schevill's poetry, "Lager Lieder" (1991), a book of concentration camp songs, and Michael Harper's "Family Sequences" (1998); broadsides he's designed, sculptural "reliqueries" to memorialize the Jewish Holocaust; the current prospering of his artists books; and his success as a teacher.
Biographical / Historical:
Walter Feldman (1925-2017) was an artist and art educator of Providence, R.I. Established Ziggurat Press in 1984 and, as teaching adjunct at Brown University, the Brown/Ziggurat Press in 1990.
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.
Occupation:
Art teachers -- Rhode Island -- Providence -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Jennifer Bartlett conducted 1987 June 18-September 28, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art.
Bartlett discusses her family background and the dynamics within the family; her childhood interest in art; growing up in suburban Long Beach, California; attending Mills College and Yale School of Fine Arts; and her teachers and co-students there. She remembers in particular Elizabeth Murray, Jack Tworkov, and Richard Serra. She speaks about themes and intentions in her work, especially "Rhapsody" and various commissions including works created for ISI, Saatchi, Volvo, and Battery Park. Bartlett speaks about her writings "Cleopatra" and "History of the Universe" and their relationship to her painting. She concludes the interview with philosophical musings about art and taste.
Biographical / Historical:
Jennifer Bartlett (1941-2022) was a painter, writer, and art instructor in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 15 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 interview is open for research. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Conceptual artists -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
