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Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Horowitz, Raymond J.  Search this
Interviewer:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Subject:
Spark, Victor D. (Victor David)  Search this
Mellon, Paul  Search this
Adler, A. M. (Abraham M)  Search this
Fraad, Daniel  Search this
Fraad, Rita  Search this
Spanierman, Ira  Search this
McGoldrick, Joseph D. (Joseph Daniel)  Search this
Terra, Daniel J.  Search this
Mount, Charles Merrill  Search this
Gerdts, William H.  Search this
Stebbins, Theodore E.  Search this
Hirshhorn, Joseph H.  Search this
Canaday, John  Search this
Magriel, Paul David  Search this
Cikovsky, Nicolai  Search this
Levine, Jack  Search this
Columbia University  Search this
National Gallery of Art (U.S.)  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New York (State)
Physical Description:
3 Sound cassettes, Sound recording (4 hrs. 30 min.), analog; 56 Pages, Transcript
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview of Raymond Horowitz conducted 2004 Oct.20-Nov. 5, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art, in New York, N.Y.
Horowitz speaks of his privileged childhood in New York; the effects of the Depression on his family's finances; attending Columbia University for Law and the anti-Semitism he faced there; his ingratiation into art appreciation through Meyer Shapiro; employment under then-New York City comptroller Joseph McGoldrick; the formation of his law practice; and his marriage to his wife, Margaret Goldenberg. Horowitz also mentions his involvement in left-wing political movements; how he managed relationships with different dealers; his experiences with misattributed artworks and forgeries, particularly his luck in avoiding them; the hobbies of himself and his wife; how he avoids relationships with the artists of his works; sharing information with other collectors; the economics of donating artworks and the subsequent tax breaks; the importance of credit in art purchasing; how he and Margaret conferred on purchases; their affinity for Chase; his habits on lending to exhibitions; the differences between the management of the Metropolitan Museum and the National Gallery; his summer homes in East Hampton and Provincetown; the problems with contemporary art scholarship; and the importance of dealers in affirming the interest in American art. Horowitz spends most of the interview reflecting upon others in the art world whom he has met. He recalls Ira Spanierman, Dan and Rita Fraad, Charles Merill Mount, Victor Spark, Abraham Adler, Nicolai Cikovsky, Phillipe de Montebello, Theodore Stebbins, Jack Levine, Daniel Terra, Joseph Hirshhorn, Norman Hirschl, John Canaday, Doris and Harry Rubin, Paul Mellon, Bill Gerdts, Paul Magriel, Bernard Meyers, and many others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Raymond J. Horowitz, 2004 Oct. 20-Nov. 5. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available on line
Funding:
Funding for this interview provided by the New Land Foundation. 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:
Interviewee Raymond Horowitz (1916-2005) was a collector from New York, N.Y. Avis Berman is an art historian from New York, N.Y.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
This interview is 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 administrators.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Art -- Economic aspects  Search this
Depressions -- 1929  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)11835
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)249390
AAA_collcode_horowi04
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_249390