The collection is arranged as 9 series. Series 1: Correspondence, 1937, 1944-1980 (2.7 linear feet; Boxes 1-3) Series 2: Artists' Files, 1943-1967, 1970-1979 (4.9 linear feet; Boxes 3-8) Series 3: ICA Program Files, circa 1947-1968 (5.2 linear feet; Boxes 8-13, 27) Series 4: Organizations, 1927, 1940s-1967 (7.3 linear feet; Boxes 13-20, OV 39) Series 5: ICA School Files, 1945-1953 (7.0 linear feet; Boxes 21-27) Series 6: Administrative and Financial Files, 1945-1979, 1983 (5.2 linear feet; Boxes 28-33, 38) Series 7: Printed Materials, 1945-1970 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 33-35, 38) Series 8: Photographs, circa 1930s-1960s, circa 1985 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 35-36) Series 9: Personal Papers of Robert Richman, 1940s-1980 (0.4 linear feet; Boxes 36-37)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Summary:
The records of the Washington, D.C. arts and educational organization, Institute of Contemporary Arts, measure 36 linear feet and date from 1927-circa 1985, with the bulk of the material spanning the organization's active years, 1947-1967. The collection documents the arts and cultural programming organized by the ICA through correspondence, artists' files, program and exhibition files, administrative and financial records, printed materials and photographs. Also found are administrative, student, and teacher records of the ICA school; records of the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Project; and some personal papers of the ICA's founder, Robert Richman.
Citation:
Institute of Contemporary Arts records, 1927-circa 1985, bulk 1947-1967. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collection Care Preservation Fund.
Use Note:
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.
Biography Note:
The Washington, D.C. arts and educational organization, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), was founded by poet Robert Richman in 1947 to bring arts and culture to the nation's capital. The school, originally named the King-Smith School of Creative Arts, was redesigned and renamed Institute of Contemporary Arts by Richman in 1948. The school's philosophy was based on Sir Herbert Read's Education Through Art , and provided professional training in painting, sculpture, literature, music, and theater. In addition, the ICA operated an evening school and brought prominent artists and literary figures to the nation's capital for exhibitions, concerts, workshops, lectures, readings, and performances. Teachers at the school included potter Alexander Giampietro, sculptor David Aaron, designers Beatrice Takeuchi and Hubert Leckie, and painter Kenneth Noland.
The school closed in August 1951, but the ICA continued to provide an impressive roster of programs and performances held at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and other D.C. institutions, such as exhibitions by Naum Gabo, Bernard Leach, Isamu Noguchi, and Hans Richter; readings by W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, Katherine Anne Porter, and Dylan Thomas; lectures by Charles Eames, Aldous Huxley, Octavio Paz, and Frank Lloyd Wright; and performances by Aaron Copland, Paul Hindemith, José Limón Dance Company, and Ravi Shankar. The organization also sponsored visiting professorships for international artists and writers, such as Nadine Gordimer, and hosted an annual Congress of Artists and Writers from 1959-1964.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the ICA was successful in securing some large grants to continue and expand its programming and to secure permanent space at the Meridian House Foundation. However, by the late 1960s the organization's programming declined.
ICA founder Robert Richman was a poet and literary editor at New Republic magazine in the early 1950s. He was active in the arts community in D.C. and in international exchange organizations, including the Fine Arts Committee of the People-to-People Project, an initiative started by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the late 1950s. Robert Richman passed away in 1987.
Language Note:
The collection is in English.
Provenance:
The Institute of Contemporary Arts records were donated by Maida Richman, the wife of the ICA's founder, Robert Richman, in 1986.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
