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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Gordin, Sidney Alexander, 1918-1996  Search this
Interviewer:
Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994  Search this
Subject:
Harrison, Wallace  Search this
Hofmann, Hans  Search this
Jewell, Edward Alden  Search this
Kantor, Morris  Search this
Picasso, Pablo  Search this
Pollock, Jackson  Search this
Rosenborg, Ralph M.  Search this
Thomas, Byron  Search this
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art  Search this
Pratt Institute  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
23 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 1 min.
Summary:
An interview of Sidney Gordin conducted 1965 Sept. 2, by Dorothy Seckler, for the Archives of American Art.
Gordin speaks of immigrating to the United States from Shanghai, China in 1922; being the class artist in grade school; attending Brooklyn Technical High School; studying at the WPA art school at the Brooklyn Museum for a summer; attending the Cooper Union School of Art; encountering Cubism; working as a commercial artist and making cartoons; teaching at the Pratt Institute; and alternating, as inspiration strikes, between painting and sculpture; and Constructivist philosophy. Gordin also mentions Ralph Rosenborg, Tom Eldred, Carol and Wallace Harrison, Edward Alden Jewell, Pablo Picasso, Byron Thomas, Morris Kantor, Hans Hofmann, Paul Clay, Jackson Pollock, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Sidney Gordin, 1965 Sept. 2. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Funding:
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Biography Note:
Sidney Gordin (1918-1996) was a sculptor and educator from Berkeley, Calif.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
Sculptors -- California -- Berkeley -- Interviews  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12268
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214102
AAA_collcode_gordin65
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_214102