The papers of art historian Belisario Contreras measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1943 to 1984. The papers document his research on New Deal Art Projects, including correspondence and copies of correspondence with William C. Agee, George Biddle (including 16 photographs of murals in Mexico City and Washington, D.C. and a clipping), Mrs. Edward Bruce, Olin Dows, Maria Ealand, Arlene Jacobowitz, Masha Zakheim Jewett (including an exhibition catalog and clippings on Bernard Baruch Zakheim), Horace Kallen, Rockwell Kent, Chet LaMore, Merwin C. Phelps, David W. Scott, Harold Weston, and others. Also found are National Endowment for the Humanities grant proposals "NDA Projects in Pennsylvania," 1975, and "Images of the Heartland," 1980, and notes from Contreras' interviews with Maria Ealand, John Gernand, Jacob Kainen, Dorothy Miller, and Selma Rein.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of art historian Belisario Contreras measure 0.5 linear feet and date from 1943 to 1984. The papers contain his research on New Deal Art Projects, including correspondence and copies of correspondence with William C. Agee, George Biddle (including 16 photographs of murals in Mexico City and Washington, D.C. and a clipping), Mrs. Edward Bruce, Olin Dows, Maria Ealand, Arlene Jacobowitz, Masha Zakheim Jewett (including an exhibition catalog and clippings on Bernard Baruch Zakheim), Horace Kallen, Rockwell Kent, Chet LaMore, Merwin C. Phelps, David W. Scott, Harold Weston, and others; National Endowment for the Humanities grant proposals "NDA Projects in Pennsylvania," 1975, and "Images of the Heartland," 1980, and notes from Contreras' interviews with Maria Ealand, John Gernand, Jacob Kainen, Dorothy Miller, and Selma Rein.
Biographical / Historical:
Belisario Contreras was an Argentinian born art historian who lived and worked in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1983 he published the book "Tradition and Innovation in New Deal Art."
Related Materials:
Papers of Belisario R. Contreras, 1860-1976, are also located at The University of New Mexico's Center for Southwest Research.
Provenance:
Donated 1985 by Belisario Contreras.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New Mexico -- Albuquerque Search this
An interview of Joseph A. Danysh conducted by Lewis Ferbraché on 1964 December 3 for the Archives of American Art.
Danysh speaks of his background and education at Columbia University; moving to California; starting a gallery in a store in San Francisco; critics' reaction to the art in the gallery; the beginning of the f64 photography group; opening a short lived gallery with Ansel Adams; writing an art column; starting out with the Federal Art Project, directing the project in Northern California; how the project was administered; particular projects he was involved in; his feelings about government support for the arts. He recalls Beniamino Bufano, Holger Cahill, William Gaskin, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, Bernard Zakheim.
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph A. Danysh (1906-1982) was an art administrator from Monterey, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 43 min.
Provenance:
This interview 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.
An interview of Maxine Albro and Parker Hall conducted by Mary McChesney on 1964 July 27 for the Archives of American Art.
Albro speaks of her educational background including her work with Paul O'Higgins and as an assistant to Diego Rivera; of fresco and mosaic techniques; her mural at Coit Tower for the Public Works of Art Project; mosaics at San Francisco State College; her relationship with George Gaethke, Urban Neininger, Ralph Stackpole, Bernard Zakheim, and others; the Allied Artists Guild; the influence of the Federal Art Project on her career; and Ray Bertrand's lithography project. Parker Hall comments on his fresco at Coit Tower and other projects. Also present at the interview is Robert McChesney.
Biographical / Historical:
Maxine Albro (1903-1966) was a mural painter and mosaicist in Carmel, California. Her husband, Parker Hall, is a mural painter.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hrs., 26 min.
Provenance:
This interview 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Resumes, lists of works exhibited and commissioned, and a copy of an award; addresses; correspondence primarily concerning his murals and his struggles to have them found or restored, including letters from John Dormer Smith's files, (Zakheim's biographer); notes and writings by Zakheim and others including a 113 page biography by the Federal Art Project, 1937; a sketchbook/journal; financial material, ca.1952-1966; exhibition announcements and catalogs; clippings and other printed materials regarding Zakheim, his political interests, and the local San Francisco community; photographs of Zakheim, his friends, and his works of art;
and 13 scrapbooks containing drafts of letters and the responses and printed material concerning Zakheim's work and his efforts to recover his murals.
Biographical / Historical:
Mural painter, sculptor; California.
Provenance:
Donated 1976 by Bernard Zakheim.
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.
United States -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1945 -- California
United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945 -- California
Date:
1939-1942
Scope and Contents:
Typescripts, correspondence, clippings, photographs, and building plans.
Reel NDA 10: Clippings, photographs, building plans, and blueprints relating to the mural decoration of Fort Ord, California, Enlisted Men's Club for the Federal Art Project by artists Carlton Lehman and Merlin Hardy; and a report from Florence Kerr and a document relating to work of the supervisors of WPA and FAP projects [The report and document are under the microfilm title Florence Kerr];
and a FAP publication, WPA GOVERNMENT AID DURING THE DEPRESSION TO PROFESSIONAL, TECHNICAL, AND OTHER SERVICE WORKERS, 1936, by Grace Overmyer [Microfilm title Grace Overmyer].
Reel NDA 14: Typescript of an article by Adele Stackpole, "Relief Again? What Will You Get for What They Give?" in which she is critical of the WPA; and CALIFORNIA'S MEDICAL STORY IN FRESNO, anon., 1939, which includes illustrations of Bernard Zakheim's murals for the medical school in Fresno; a clipping, and articles by him and his wife; and group photograph of supervisors, artists and assistants in the FAP in San Francisco, April 1936.[Microfilm titles Adele Stackpole, Bernard Zakheim, and WPA-FAP, San Francisco]
Biographical / Historical:
Supervisor, Federal Art Project, Northern California. Supervised the decoration of the Fort Ord's Enlisted Men's Club, which was the last large Federal Art Project and WPA building project in Northern California.
Other Title:
WPA-FAP, San Francisco [microfilm title]
Overmyer, Grace [microfilm title]
Stackpole, Adele [microfilm title]
Zakheim, Bernard [microfilm title]
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1964 by Dorothy Collins.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Zakheim, Bernard Baruch, 1898-1985 -- Photographs Search this
Extent:
7 Items (photographic prints, b&w, 15 x 10 cm.)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Date:
1934
Scope and Contents:
Photographs donated and annotated by Shirley Triest, and taken by Peter Stackpole of artists working on the Coit Tower, San Francisco, 1934, for the Public Works of Art Project. Pictured are George Harris, John Howard, Lucien Labaudt, Fred Olmstead, Ralph Stackpole, and Bernard Zakheim, and assistants Julia Rogers and Shirley Staschen Triest.
Biographical / Historical:
The mural decoration of the Coit Memorial Tower, San Francisco, was commissioned in 1933 by the Public Works of Art Project, a relief project for artists unemployed due to the Depression. At one point, the project was temporarily closed down due to a controversy surrounding the murals, which were criticized as pro-Communist.
General:
Photographs microfilmed with AAA's Photographs of Artists Collection Two, and appear on microfilm in alphabetical order with other unrelated photographs.
Provenance:
Donated 1974 by Shirley S. Triest. Microfilmed in 1980 as part of AAA's Photographs of Artists Collection Two.
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.
Topic:
Coit Memorial Tower (San Francisco, Calif.) Search this
Art and state -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Artists -- California -- San Francisco -- Photographs Search this
Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- United States Search this
United States -- Economic conditions -- 1918-1945 -- California -- San Francisco
United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945 -- California -- San Francisco
Date:
1936-1937
Scope and Contents:
Twenty volumes of the publication, CALIFORNIA ART RESEARCH, containing monographs on artists whose principal residence was San Francisco.
REEL NDA/Cal 1: Artists include Robert Aitken, Arthur Atkins, Albert Bierstadt, Ray Boynton, Anne Bremer, Henry J. Breuer, Giuseppe Cadenasso, Emil Carlsen, M. Earl Cummings, Rinaldo Cuneo, Charles Dickman, Maynard Dixon, Charles Grant, Armin Hansen, H. W. Hansen, Thomas Hill, Christian Jorgensen, Amedee Joullin, William Keith, Constance Macky, Xavier Martinez, Arthur Mathews, Francis McComas, Arthur C. Nahl, Charles C. Nahl, Hugo W. A. Nahl, Perham W. Nahl, Virgil T. Nahl, Ernest Peixotto, Charles R. Peters, Gottardo Piazzoni, Horatio Nelson Poole, Arthur Putnam, Joseph Raphael, Mary C. Richardson, Julian Rix, Charles D. Robinson, Toby Rosenthal, Will Sparks,Jules Tavernier, Douglas Tilden, Domenico Tojetti, Frank Van Sloun, Thaddeus Welch, Virgil Williams, Evelyn A. Withrow, and Theodore Wores.
REEL NDA/Cal 2: Artists include Rowena M. Abdy, Gertrude Albright, Hermann O. Albright, Maxine Albro, Victor Arnautoff, Matthew R. Barne s, Frank Bergman, Jane Berlandina, Ray Bethers, Beniamino Bufano, Margaret Bruton, Chee Chin, Ruth Cravath, Helen Forbes, Euphemia C. Fortune, William Gaw, Edith Hamlin, William Hesthal, Clark Hobart, Charles Howard, John G. Howard, John L. Howard, Robert Boardman Howard, Adaline Kent, Dong Kingman, Lucien Labaudt, Spencer Mackey, Jo Mora, Jose Moya del Pino, Chiura Obata, Otis Oldfield, Julius Pommer, George B. Post, Dorothy W. Puccinelli, Raimondo Puccinelli, Lee F. Randolph, Andree Rexroth, Matteo Sandona, Geneve R. Sargeant, Sergey J. Scherbakoff,Jacques Schnier, Yoshida Sekido, Joseph M. Sheridan,Ralph Stackpole, and Bernard Zakheim.
Biographical / Historical:
Publication of the Works Progress Administration; San Francisco, Calif. Sponsored by Dr. Walter Heil of the M.H. de Young Museum. Was originally a joint project of the WPA-Statistical projects division and the WPA-Federal Art Project in order to disseminate information about artists and art in the San Francisco region.
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
San Francisco, WPA Project 2874, 1936-1937.
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
Occupation:
Artists -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Topic:
New Deal, 1933-1939 -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Federal aid to the arts -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Federal aid to the public welfare -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Art and state -- California -- San Francisco Search this
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Names:
New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project Search this
Extent:
36 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1964
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Bernard Baruch Zakheim conducted in 1964, by Lewis Ferbrachein, for the Archives of American Art.
Biographical / Historical:
Bernard B. Zakheim (1898-1964) was a painter, mural painter, and sculptor in Sebastopol, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hrs., 40 min.
Provenance:
This interview 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.
Ain't misbehavin' [videorecording] : the Coit Tower murals / New Pacific Productions ; producers, David Bolt, John Esterle, and Sue Ellen McCann ; director, David Bolt ; writer, John Esterle ; art director, Sue Ellen McCann ; narrator, Bruce Holbert
Reviews the history of the San Francisco Coit Tower from its building, the commissioning of the often controversial murals by the Public Works of Art Project in 1933, and their significance in both artistic and political terms, through to the more recent problems of restoration and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the murals in 1984. Appearing in the video are Coit Tower muralists, Ralph Chessé, John Langley Howard and Bernard Zakheim. Offering commentary and analysis are: Masha Zakheim Jewett, author of COIT TOWER, Michael Bell, Assistant Director, San Francisco Art Commission, and art historian Francis V. O'Connor.
Publication, Distribution, Etc. (Imprint):
San Francisco, Calif. : New Pacific Productions [production company], c1986.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 by David Bolt.
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:
To be used for research purposes only. Contact Reference Services for more information.
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.
Topic:
Coit Memorial Tower (San Francisco, Calif.) Search this
Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- California -- San Francisco Search this
Mural painting and decoration, American -- California -- San Francisco Search this
