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Oral history interview with Vera Klement, 2015 June 12 and 14

Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Klement, Vera, 1929-2023  Search this
Interviewer:
Silverman, Lanny  Search this
Subject:
Adrian, Dennis  Search this
Ashton, Dore  Search this
Deson, Marianne  Search this
Ippolito, Angelo  Search this
Ito, Miyoko  Search this
Kind, Phyllis  Search this
Rosenberg, Harold  Search this
Shapey, Ralph  Search this
Stamos, Theodoros  Search this
Artemisia Gallery  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project  Search this
University of Chicago  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Illinois
Physical Description:
3 Items, Sound recording: 3 sound files (3 hr., 24 min.), digital, wav; 140 Pages, Transcript
General Note:
Originally recorded as 3 sound files. Duration is 3 hr., 24 min.
Access Note / Rights:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Summary:
An interview with Vera Klement conducted 2015 June 12 and 14, by Lanny Silverman, for the Archives of American Art's Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project, at Klement's home and studio in Chicago, Illinois.
Klement speaks of her early childhood in Danzig (now, Gdansk, Poland) on the eve of World War II; her family's immigration to New York; her early experiences with music and art; her decision to become a painter; her interactions within New York's art community of the 1950s; the change in New York's art scene after the emergence of Pop art; her move to Chicago and subsequent difficulties in showing her work; her involvement within the Chicago art community; the founding of the women's artist cooperative, Artemisia; her involvement with the women's movement in the 1970s; teaching at the University of Chicago; her conception of her artwork as representational and apolitical; her literary influences; and her distaste for the contemporary art world. Klement also recalls Dennis Adrian, Dore Ashton, Marianne Deson, Angelo Ippolito, Miyoko Ito, Phyllis Kind, Harold Rosenberg, Ralph Shapey, Theodoros Stamos, and others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Vera Klement, 2015 June 12 and 14. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript available online.
Funding:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Biography Note:
Vera Klement (1929-2023) was an Expressionist painter in Chicago, Illinois.
Lanny Silverman (1947- ) is a curator at the Chicago Cultural Center in Chicago, Illinois.
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, American -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art, American -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women's rights  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)16266
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)371137
AAA_collcode_klemen15
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_371137