The papers of artist Shirley Jaffe measure 7.1 linear feet and 0.260 GB and date from circa 1950-2011. The collection documents Jaffe's life and career as an American painter living in Paris through biographical material, letters, notebooks, writings, project files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and sketchbooks.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of artist Shirley Jaffe measure 7.1 linear feet and 0.260 GB and date from circa 1950-2011. The collection documents Jaffe's life and career as an American painter living in Paris through biographical material, letters, notebooks, writings, project files, printed and digital material, photographic material, and sketchbooks.
Scattered biographical materials include address and appointment books, an interview with Jaffe by Jeff Perkins recorded on one videocassette, and other documents.
Letters make up a significant portion of the collection and are primarily written to Jaffe from friends and family. In addition to frequent letters received from her siblings and mother, Jaffe also received letters from artists Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, Kimber Smith, Sylvia Stone and Al Held, Hermine Ford, Robert Kushner, and George Sugarman.
The papers include eighty-four notebooks kept by Jaffe containing lists, addresses, notes, sketches and the occasional diary entry. Project files contain correspondence, gouache studies, sketches, and printed material related to commissions and collaborations, including illustrations, murals, and the design of stained glass windows in the Chapelle Saint-Jean-l'Evangéliste in Perpignan, titled Funéraria.
Printed materials include articles, published books about Jaffe, clippings, exhibition catalogs, a recorded radio broadcast, and reviews.
There are photographs, slides, transparencies, and digital photographs depicting Jaffe's paintings, commissions, exhibitions, and artists and art world figures including Larry Rivers, Kimber Smith, Linda Nochlin, Sam Francis, Paul Jenkins, and Joan Mitchell at exhibition openings in the 1960s-1970s. Eight sketchbooks contain drawings by Jaffe in ink, marker, and pen.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 7 series
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1950s-2006 (0.3 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 2: Letters, 1950s-2008 (3 linear feet; Boxes 1-4)
Series 3: Notebooks and Writings, 1950s-2000s (0.9 linear feet; Boxes 4-5)
Series 4: Project Files, 1970s-2007 (0.6 linear feet; Box 5, OV 9)
Series 5: Printed Material, 1952-2011 (0.7 Linear feet; Boxes 5-6, OVs 10-11)
Series 6: Photographic Material, 1950s-circa 2010 (1.3 linear feet; Boxes 6-8, 0.260 GB; ER01)
Series 7: Sketchbooks, 1960s-2000s (0.3 linear feet; Box 8)
Biographical / Historical:
Abstract painter Shirley Jaffe (1923-2016), née Sternstein, was known for the bold color palette and distinct geometric shapes and patterns that characterized her work. A native of New Jersey, Jaffe lived and worked in Paris, France, for most of her career.
Jaffe was raised in Brooklyn and completed her studies at the Cooper Union in 1945. In 1949 she and husband Irving Jaffe moved to Washington, D.C. where she attended the Phillips Art School before moving to Paris that same year. The Jaffes returned to New York briefly in the early 1950s, but moved back to Paris in 1953, where Jaffe settled and worked for the rest of her life. She was divorced from Irving Jaffe in 1962.
Jaffe began her career as an abstract expressionist but started to work in a flat and geometric style in the late 1960s. She was part of the American expatriate art scene in Paris and associated with Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Sam Francis, Kimber Smith, and others. In 1963, Jaffe received a grant from the Ford Foundation to spend a year working in Berlin.
Jaffe took on several commissions in France including illustrations, murals, and notably, the design of stained glass windows in the Chapelle Saint-Jean-l'Evangéliste in Perpignan, titled Funéraria, so named because the chapel was originally a place where the dead awaiting burial were placed. Jaffe worked in collaboration with master craftsman Jean Mauret to execute the brightly colored abstract forms that adorn the windows.
Jaffe's paintings have been exhibited in New York at the Holly Solomon Gallery and the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, and at galleries and museums throughout France. Represented by Galerie Fournier for much of her career, Jaffe has been represented by Galerie Nathalie Obadia since 1999.
Related Materials:
Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Shirley Jaffe conducted by Avis Berman, September 27-28, 2010.
Provenance:
The Shirley Jaffe papers were donated to the Archives of American Art by Shirley Jaffe in 2014.
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.
