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Interviewee:
Halpert, Edith Gregor, 1900-1970  Search this
Interviewer:
Phillips, Harlan B., 1920-1979,  Search this
Subject:
Bacon, Peggy  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this
Barrie, Erwin S.  Search this
Benton, Thomas Hart  Search this
Brackman, Robert  Search this
Bridgman, George Brant  Search this
Brixey, Richard de Wolfe  Search this
Cahill, Holger  Search this
Calder, Alexander  Search this
Cary, Elisabeth Luther  Search this
Chase, William Merritt  Search this
Coleman, Glenn O.  Search this
Crowninshield, Frank  Search this
Daniel, Charles  Search this
Davis, Stuart  Search this
Demuth, Charles  Search this
Deskey, Donald  Search this
Dove, Arthur Garfield  Search this
Dudensing, F. Valentine  Search this
Fergusson, John Duncan  Search this
Field, Hamilton Easter  Search this
Force, Juliana  Search this
Ford, Ford Madox  Search this
Frost, Robert  Search this
Fuller, R. Buckminster (Richard Buckminster)  Search this
Goodyear, A. Conger (Anson Conger)  Search this
Greenberg, Clement  Search this
Halpert, Samuel  Search this
Hartley, Marsden  Search this
Hirsch, Stefan  Search this
Hopkinson, Charles  Search this
Hopper, Edward  Search this
Johns, Jasper  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Knox, Seymour H.  Search this
Kroll, Leon  Search this
Kuhn, Walt  Search this
Kuniyoshi, Yasuo  Search this
Laurent, Robert  Search this
Lawrence, Jacob  Search this
Léger, Fernand  Search this
Levine, Jack  Search this
Levy, Julien  Search this
Locke, Charles  Search this
Luks, George Benjamin  Search this
Marin, John, Jr.  Search this
McBride, Henry  Search this
Mellon, Paul  Search this
Mercer, Henry Chapman  Search this
Montross, N. E. (Newman E)  Search this
Noguchi, Isamu  Search this
O'Keeffe, Georgia  Search this
Pascin, Jules  Search this
Picasso, Pablo  Search this
Pollock, Jackson  Search this
Pound, Ezra  Search this
Rivera, Diego  Search this
Rockefeller, Abby Aldrich  Search this
Robinson, Edward G.  Search this
Saarinen, Aline B. (Aline Bernstein)  Search this
Saklatwalla, Beram K.  Search this
Sandburg, Carl  Search this
Shahn, Ben  Search this
Sheeler, Charles  Search this
Siporin, Mitchell  Search this
Soutine, Chaim  Search this
Steichen, Edward  Search this
Stein, Gertrude  Search this
Stella, Frank  Search this
Stern, Louis E.  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred  Search this
Tannahill, Robert Hudson  Search this
Vollard, Ambroise  Search this
Weber, Max  Search this
Wittenberg, Philip  Search this
Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt  Search this
Williams, William Carlos  Search this
Zerbe, Karl  Search this
Zorach, William  Search this
Zorach, Marguerite  Search this
C.W. Kraushaar Art Galleries  Search this
Daniel Gallery  Search this
Downtown Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Ferargil Galleries  Search this
Grand Central Art Galleries  Search this
M. Knoedler & Co.  Search this
Montross Gallery  Search this
New Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New York (State)
Physical Description:
436 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded on 7 tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 27 digital wav files. Duration is 32 hrs., 27 min.
Summary:
An interview of Edith Halpert conducted 1962-1963, by Harlan Phillips, for the Archives of American Art.
Halpert speaks of her childhood in Russia and growing up in New York City; working at Bloomindale's, Macy's, Stern Brothers, and Cohen Goldman; her marriage to artist Sam Halpert, his health, and living in Paris in 1925; becoming an art student at the Academy of Design and feeling that Leon Kroll was an excellent art teacher until he began to correct her drawings; when George Bridgman thought she was ruining his class; the Lincoln Square Arcade, when she and Ernest Fiener and Robert Brackman would rent Conan's studio evenings and bring in instructors; how Newman Montross influenced her more than anybody about showing her art that she loved; burning all of her work because Kroll said she had no talent; receiving a painting from John Marin; her friendship and working relationship with Abby Rockefeller and other family members.
She recalls opening the Downtown Gallery, in Greenwich Village, in 1926; a brief history of modern art; many artists helping decorate the new Daylight Gallery in 1930 and the first show being called "Practical Manifestations of Art"; meeting Robert and Sonia Delaunay in France; when she refused to allow Ezra Pound to speak at one of the gallery lectures because of his anti-Semite remarks and William Carlos Williams and Ford Madox Ford argued with her over it; experiencing jealousy and professional attacks from other dealers; the successful "Pop" Hart show and book in 1929; the "Thirty-three Moderns" show in 1930 at the Grand Central Galleries; the Jules Pascin show in 1930; in America, most of the art buyers supporters of culture were women, until the WPA and World War II, when it became fashionable for men to be involved; Ambroise Vollard's advice on selling art; handling the frustrations of working in the art field; friendships with Stuart Davis,Charles Sheeler, and Ben Shahn; how artists work through dry periods in their creativity and the "Recurrent Image" show; a discussion on modern art galleries of New York City, such as Daniel, Knoedler, Ferargil, the New Gallery, 291, the Grand Central, Kraushaar, and Montross; her travels through Pennsylvania and Maine for good examples of folk art for the gallery; the "The Artist Looks at Music" show; the non-competitive spirit of the early modern American artists; of being saved financially in 1940 by selling a William Harnett painting to the Boston Museum and then renting new space for the gallery.
Also, Mitchell Siporin bringing Halpert and Edmund Gurry to Mitchell Field during World War II for a camouflage show and consequently Downtown Gallery artists and others were enlisted in the camouflage corps for the U.S. Air Force; Charles Sheeler and his wife find Halpert a house in Newtown, Conn.; her decision in 1933 to push folk art for acquisition by the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri; her great concern about what to do with her folk art literature collection; dismay and that no one writes about the history of folk art and those responsible for its creation and popularity; Louis Stern hiring her to organize a municipal exhibit in Atlantic City, N.J., with Donald Deskey designing the furniture and Holger Cahill managing the publicity; Joe Lillie helping her meet Fiorello La Guardia and Joe McGoldrick in 1934 about a municipal show in New York City, but it is moved to Radio City Music Hall through Nelson Rockefeller; the "Salons of America" show; wanting articles written about art for love rather than art for investment; working with Aline Saarinen on her book, "Proud Possessors;" letters from Stuart Davis, William Zorach and others that hurt her feelings; enjoying giving educational lectures and considering retirement because of ill health; the desire to write a book on the history of trade signs in folk art; feeling that the young artists are being ruined by too much support without working for it; planning to write a book entitled, "Unsung Heroes," about artists brave enough to experiment; organizing a show in Russia at her own expense; later representing the U.S. in art at the "American National Exposition"; the agitators and success of the exposition; Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe.
Halpert also recalls Juliana Force, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Buckminster Fuller, George Luks, Edsel Ford, Max Weber, Danny Diefenbacker, Hamilton Easter Field, Frank Stella, Glenn Coleman, Margaret Zorach, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Henry Mercer, Romany Marie, Edward G. Robinson, Paul Mellon, Charles Pollet, Alex Brook, Lunca Curass, Dorothy Lambert, Duncan Candler, Frank Rhen, Louis Rittman, Bea Goldsmith, Arthur Craven, Robert Frost, Philip Wittenberg, Caesar de Hoke, Richard deWolfe Brixey, Seymour Knox, Walt Kuhn, Elisabeth Luther Cary, Charles Locke, Duncan Fergusson, Mrs. Solomon Guggenheim, Bob Tannahill, David Thompson, Marsden Hartley, Erwin Barrie, Robert Laurent, Conger Goodyear, Henry McBride, Edward Hopper, Charles Daniel, William Merritt Chase, Charles Hopkinson, Thomas Hart Benton, Frank Crowninshield, Alfred Barr, Lord Duveen, Jacob Lawrence, John Marin Jr., Karl Zerbe, Franz Kline, Arthur Dove, Julian Levy, Jack Levine, Valentine Dudensing, Peggy Bacon, Stefan Hirsch, Gertrude Stein, Isamu Noguchi, Jasper Johns, Chaim Soutine, B. K. Saklatwalla; Fernand Leger, Pablo Picasso, Ben Shahn, Charles Demuth, Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Edward Steichen, Carl Sandburg, Clement Greenberg, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Edith Gregor Halpert, 1962-1963. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
35mm microfilm reel 5130 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
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:
Edith Halpert (1900-1970) was an art dealer from New York, N.Y.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art 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. The transcript was microfilmed in 1996.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
Camouflage  Search this
Folk art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Women art dealers  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13220
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214627
AAA_collcode_halper62
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_214627