Vieira da Silva, Maria Helena, 1908-1992 Search this
Extent:
10.2 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Transcripts
Reviews (documents)
Interviews
Articles
Notes
Manuscripts
Photographs
Sound recordings
Date:
1918-1971
Summary:
The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of New York City and Paris art historian, educator, and gallerist Colette Roberts measure 10.2 linear feet and date from 1918 to 1971. Papers include correspondence, writings, teaching records, project proposals, gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, exhibition catalogs, posters, photographs, and a few works of art on paper. Also found are 124 interviews with contemporary artists conducted by Roberts.
Significant correspondents include Sam Adler, Erwin Barrie, Hubert Damisch, George Deem, Mesdames de Harting and de Tinan, Lamar Dodd, Hélène Drude (Le Point Cardinal gallery), Arne Ekstrom, Albert M. Fine (Fluxus artist), Iqbal Geoffrey, R.G. Gilllet, Adolph Gottlieb, Cleve Gray, Leon Hartl, Jennett Lam, Alberto Cifolelli Lamb, Mike Nevelson, Norman Norotzky, Jacqueline Pavlowsky, Abe Rattner, Ad Reinhardt, H. Sandberg, Philippe Stern, Russell Twiggs, and Zuka.
Writings by Roberts include manuscripts and articles about artists, writings about her own art, personal writings, working notes from interviews and classes, reviews, and translations between English and French.
Among the personal records are Robert's files relating to teaching, charitable activities, and exhibitions. Also found are gallery records from Grand Central Moderns Gallery, including artist résumés, a card file of artworks with provenance information, exhibition catalogs and announcements, membership records, posters, publicity, and sales records.
Printed materials in the collection include clippings, Roberts' printed articles, press releases, and other exhibition catalogs and announcements. Photographs are of Roberts, artists, including Ad Reinhardt, classes, art spaces, and works of art. A small number of artworks on paper are also found, including Fluxus art stamps and a printed picture of Ray Johnson stamped "DOUGHNUT FESTIVAL."
Documentation of interviews with artists conducted by Roberts includes a card index file, a few transcripts, and the original sound recordings. Most of the recordings are interviews with artists that Roberts created during a class she taught at New York University between 1957 and 1971 called "Meet the Artist," including Mary Bauermeister, Romare Bearden, Dorothy Dehner, John Ferren, Ray Johnson, Ivan Karp, Thérèse Le Prat, Richard Lindner, Marisol, Seong Moy, Brian O'Doherty, Man Ray, Ethel Schwabacher, Hedda Sterne, Marie Helena Vieira da Silva, and many others. In preparation for magazine articles, Roberts conducted more extensive interviews with Chryssa, Marcel Duchamp, Adolph Gottlieb, and Louise Nevelson. A few of the recordings of Marcel Duchamp were not created by Roberts. In all, over 100 artists are represented in Roberts' interviews. Other recordings found include lectures and interviews conducted by people other than Roberts.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 8 series:
Series 1: Correspondence, 1918-1971 (Box 1, 0.5 linear feet)
Series 2: Notes and Writings, 1936-1970 (Box 1, 0.3 linear feet)
Series 3: Personal Records, 1944-1971 (Box 1-2, 11; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 4: Grand Central Moderns Gallery Records, 1952-1970 (Box 2-3, 11; 0.7 linear feet)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1938-1971 (Box 3-5, 11-12; 2.0 linear feet)
Series 6: Photographs, 1930-1971 (Box 5; 0.2 linear feet)
Series 7: Artwork, 1940-1969 (Box 5; 4 folders)
Series 8: Interviews with Artists, 1959-1971 (Box 5-10; 5.5 lienar feet)
Biographical Note:
Colette Roberts was a French artist, curator, gallery director, and scholar who emigrated to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City and remaining there until her death in 1971.
Roberts was born in Paris, France in 1910. She studied art with Roger Bissière at the Académie Ranson and with Henry Focillon at the Ecole du Louvre, and she later attended the Institut d'Art et Archeologie at the Sorbonne. Roberts came to the United States in 1939, settling in New York City, and became an American citizen three years later. In her early years in the United States, Roberts lectured and wrote on art and literature, and was active in various war-relief organizations, raising money and organizing benefits for organizations such as the American Red Cross and UNICEF. She was the gallery director for the National Association of Women Artists' Argent Galleries from 1947 to 1949, secretary to the curator of Far Eastern Art at New York's Metropolitan Museum from 1950 to 1951, and art editor for "France Amérique," the French-language newspaper in New York, beginning in 1953.
Roberts became gallery director of the Grand Central Moderns Gallery (New York, NY) in 1952 and remained in that position until 1968, when the gallery closed. The gallery was opened in 1946 by Erwin S. Barrie of the Grand Central Galleries for the promotion of living American artists. Among the artists represented there were Jennett Lam and Seong Moy. During this period she was also an instructor at New York University and Queens College, teaching art history and contemporary art. In 1957, she began a course at New York University called "Meet the Artist," for which she took her classes to the studios of working artists to see and discuss their work. In the early 1960s, she began to tape record her interviews of artists for this course, a practice which continued until her death in 1971. In 1968, Roberts worked briefly as Gallery Director for the A.M. Sachs Gallery (New York, NY), and as an oral history interviewer for the Archives of American Art.
Roberts wrote extensively on contempoary art, including articles and monographs on Mark Tobey (1960, Grove Press), Louise Nevelson (1964, The Pocket Museum), and Marcel Duchamp. She was a regular contributor to Aujourd'hui and Art and Architecture magazines.
Related Material:
Additional papers and recordings of Colette Roberts are held by Syracuse University Library Special Collections Research Center.
Separated Material:
A copy of a 1967 oral history with Adolf Gottlieb conducted by Dorothy Seckler for the Archives of American Art oral history program, which was found in Roberts' papers, has been returned to the Archives' oral history collection.
Provenance:
The sound recordings and transcripts of interviews with artists, were donated by Colette Roberts in 1970. The remaining papers were donated by her son, Richard B. Roberts, in 1973.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Rights:
The Colette Roberts papers and interviews with artists are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Topic:
Art galleries, Commercial -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
The papers of feminist art historian and educator Linda Nochlin measure 31.2 linear feet and 3.9 gigabytes and date from circa 1876, 1937 to 2017. The collection is comprised of biographical materials; date books and notebooks; correspondence; writing project files that include material on Gustave Courbet and realism, bathers and the body, essays and lectures on 19th century art among other topics, artists, and smaller writing projects; professional files containing material on conferences and fellowships; teaching files detailing courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts and other institutions; printed materials; artwork; and photographic materials that document Nochlin and her relationships with family, colleagues and friends, and artists.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of feminist art historian and educator Linda Nochlin measure 31.2 linear feet and 3.9 gigabytes and date from circa 1876, 1937 to 2017. The collection is comprised of biographical materials; date books and notebooks; correspondence; writing project files that include material on Gustave Courbet and realism, bathers and the body, essays and lectures on 19th century art among other topics, artists, and smaller writing projects; professional files containing material on conferences and fellowships; teaching files detailing courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts and other institutions; printed materials; artwork; and photographic materials that document Nochlin and her relationships with family, colleagues and friends, and artists.
Biographical materials include two address books; awards and prizes; certificates and diplomas; childhood writings and notes, assignments, and school newsletters; course work at Vassar College and NYU's Institute of Fine Arts; honors; and one sound recording and three transcripts of Nochlin interviews with Alain Veinstein, Dan Karlholm, Jon Weiner, and Moira Roth.
Over 150 date books and notebooks spanning nearly 60 years contain appointments, reminders, travel plans, thoughts on art, journal entries, daily activities, to-do lists, contact information, fiction writing, and other small notations. Correspondence is with family; close colleagues and artists Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Zuka Mitelberg, Joan Mitchell, and Philip Pearlstein; and professional contacts regarding speaking engagements, publishing projects, exhibitions, artists' work, conferences, and events.
The bulk of the collection documents Nochlin's prolific writing career that includes her lifelong research and work on Gustave Courbet, realism, bathers and the body, as well as numerous essays and lectures, research and writings on artists, and various other writing projects.
Files for professional activities contain material for conferences and symposiums that include 11 sound and video recordings, grants, fellowships, and travel arrangements and expenses. Teaching files consist of documentation for courses taught by Nochlin at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, Vassar College, Yale University, and other academic institutions.
Publications and other printed materials include annotated books, booklets, clippings, exhibition catalogs, journals and magazines, newsletters, offprints, five video recordings of broadcasts and documentary material, flyers, invitations, posters, and postcards. Artwork includes sketches in ink, charcoal, paint, and pencil created during Nochlin's childhood into her early 20s, along with artwork by children, and one video art recording by Zoulikha Bouabdellah.
Photographs and negatives are of Nochlin with artists Nancy Graves, Sebastian Horsley, and Shirley Jaffe; childhood classmates; friends and colleagues; students; and travels to Europe. Also included are photographs of works of art, personal photographs of family members, and portraits and snapshots of Nochlin.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as nine series.
Series 1: Biographical Materials, circa 1940-2012 (1.0 linear feet; Box 1, OV 35 / 0.003 GB; ER01-ER03)
Series 2: Datebooks and Notebooks, 1959-2017 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 2-5, OV 35 / 0.001 GB; ER004)
Series 3: Correspondence, 1946-2014 (2.0 linear feet; Boxes 5-7, OV 35 / 0.158 GB; ER005-ER011)
Series 4: Writing Project Files, circa 1876, 1953-2016 (17.0 linear feet; Boxes 7-21, 30-31, 33-34, OVs 36-37 / 3.72 GB; ER012-ER102)
Series 5: Professional Files, 1957-2012 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 22-23 / 0.001 GB; ER103)
Series 6: Teaching Files, 1953-2012 (2.5 linear feet; Boxes 23-25, OV 36 / 0.016 GB; ER104-ER119)
Series 7: Printed Materials, 1939-2017 (3.0 linear feet; Boxes 26-28, 32, 34, OVs 39-40)
Series 8: Artwork, circa 1940-2004 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 28, 34, OV 38)
Series 9: Photographic Materials, circa 1935-circa 2010 (1.0 linear feet; Boxes 28-29, 34)
Biographical / Historical:
Linda Nochlin (1931-2017) was a feminist art historian and professor at New York University Institute of Fine Arts in New York, New York. She is widely known for her essay first published in 1971, "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?," that explored the institutional systems in place for analyzing art history and their impacts on women artists. In 1976, Nochlin co-curated Women Artists: 1550-1950 alongside Ann Sutherland Harris at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in 2007 she co-curated with Maura Reilly the Global Feminisms Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Both exhibitions are considered landmark exhibitions of women artists.
Nochlin was born in Brooklyn, New York. She attended the Brooklyn Ethical Culture School and Midwood High School before enrolling in Vassar College where she majored in philosophy with minors in Greek and art history. After graduating in 1951, she went on to earn a master's degree in English from Columbia University in 1952. In 1963, she earned her PhD in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts. Nochlin's PhD dissertation, "Gustave Courbet: A Study of Style and Society," marked the beginning of her lifelong study of the 19th-Century French artist Gustave Courbet.
Nochlin taught at Yale University, the Graduate Center at the City University of New York, and Vassar College. She was also a visiting professor at Columbia University, Hunter College, Stanford University, Williams College, and Yale University, and later became the Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts.
Nochlin authored numerous art history books including Realism (1971), The Politics of Vision: Essays on Nineteenth-Century Art and Society (1989), Representing Women (1999), The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as a Metaphor of Modernity (1994), Bathers, Bodies, Beauty: The Visceral Eye (2006), Courbet (2007), and Misère: The Visual Representation of Misery in the 19th Century (2018).
Related Materials:
Also found at the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview of Linda Nochlin conducted on June 9-30, 2010 by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art's Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts project at Nochlin's home in New York, N.Y.
Provenance:
The collection was donated in 2018 by Daisy Pommer, Linda Nochlin's daughter.
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.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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 York (State) -- New York Search this
Educators -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Linda Nochlin papers, circa 1876, 1937-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program.
The collection is open for research. Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Collection Rights:
The George Sugarman papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
George Sugarman papers, 1912-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Essays about Sugarman's drawing and sculpture exhibitions at Zabriskie Gallery, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, and Kobe, Japan are included in the subseries. Also included is an essay about Zuka Mitelberg and a general survey of art. The subseries is arranged alphabetically by the author's last name.
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Microfilmed portion must be consulted on microfilm. Use of unmicrofilmed portion requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Collection Rights:
The George Sugarman papers are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
George Sugarman papers, 1912-2001. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Container:
Box 15, Folder
Type:
Archival materials
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Container:
Box 15, Folder 9
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1985-1989
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Extent:
(5 folders)
Container:
Box 15, Folder 10-14
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1968-1993
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Extent:
(2 folders)
Container:
Box 15, Folder 15-16
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
1970-2007
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Container:
Box 15, Folder 17
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1974-2005
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Galerie Darthea Speyer (Paris, France) Search this
Container:
Box 15, Folder 18
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
circa 1970s-2000s
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Collection Rights:
The Galerie Darthea Speyer records are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Galerie Darthea Speyer records, 1953-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Support provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Use of original papers requires an appointment. Use of archival audiovisual recordings with no duplicate access copy requires advance notice.
Collection Rights:
The Colette Roberts papers and interviews with artists are owned by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Literary rights as possessed by the donor have been dedicated to public use for research, study, and scholarship. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
Collection Citation:
Colette Roberts papers and interviews with artists, circa 1930-1971. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by The Brown Foundation, Inc.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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:
Linda Nochlin papers, circa 1876, 1937-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program.
Most of the Nochlin's correspondence is professional in nature discussing speaking engagements, publishing projects, exhibitions, artists' work, conferences, and other professional events. Nochlin's earliest correspondence in the collection is with her family discussing her life at Vassar College and her student trip abroad to the United Kingdom. More personal correspondence is with close colleagues and artists Ewa Lajer-Burcharth, Zuka Mitelberg, Joan Mitchell, and Philip Pearlstein. Folders may contain manuscripts which were often sent to Nochlin for her professional opinion or as possible research for her own projects, printed material, and other records related to the correspondence.
Arrangement:
The series is arranged alphabetically by last name or subject. Correspondence in which only first names are known are files under "First." Correspondence in which the name is unidentified or illegible is filed under "Unidentified or Illegible." The contents of each folder are in chronological order beginning with undated material.
Collection 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.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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:
Linda Nochlin papers, circa 1876, 1937-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program.
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
Researchers interested in accessing born-digital records or audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.
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:
Linda Nochlin papers, circa 1876, 1937-2017. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Collections Care Initiative Fund, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative and the National Collections Program.
