This series contains drafts of writings by Burt Chernow other than his biography of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Most of his writings are in the form of articles, reviews, and lectures. Some writing projects include significant material in addition to drafts, including a lengthy unpublished article on the artist Arman, which includes drafts, research, and a 1993 interview with the artist on one sound cassette. Other writings with significant additional material include multiple pieces on Jean Woodham along with notes and research, and a lengthy article on Francisco Zuniga with three transcripts of interviews with the artist and research material collected for the article. Material found with drafts for a book on Milton Avery drawings include correspondence with Sally Avery and a draft of her preface to the book, as well as numerous photographs of Avery's artwork. Also common among the articles in the series are reviews of exhibitions held in Connecticut during the 1980s, and essays written for many exhibition catalogs. Art education and public art are also common subjects among Chernow's writings in this series.
Additional writings about the Christos found in this series include lectures by Chernow on Surrounded Islands, Umbrellas, and Wrapped Reichstag. These writings are particularly significant because they are projects undertaken while Chernow was following the Christos closely during his research for the biography, and also because they are projects that Chernow had not yet covered in the biography at the time of his death, so the lectures represent his only completed writings on these projects. Found with the Wrapped Reichstag text is a video recording of Burt and Ann Chernow delivering this lecture in Westport. Lectures also include multiple talks given on art education and public art earlier in Chernow's career, and a lecture written for a traveling exhibition "12 Soviet Artists", shown in Westport, Conn. in 1976.
Poetry by Burt and Ann Chernow, as well as teaching notes, syllibi, and résumés are also found in this series. Writings by others include two lengthy typescripts of lectures on art education by Howard Conant, who was Chernow's teacher, as well as articles by others about Christo, and an interview with Burt Chernow by Brazilian journalist Georgia Lobacheff.
Arrangement:
Series is arranged by type of material, articles are arranged alphabetically by subject, and lectures are arranged by title. Published versions of many of the books and articles in this series are found in series 4, printed material.
Collection Restrictions:
Use of original papers 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:
Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Sponsor:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, administered through the Council on Library and Information Resources' Hidden Collections grant program.
