Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Interviewee:
Drexler, Rosalyn, 1926-  Search this
Interviewer:
Lyon, Christopher, 1949-  Search this
Subject:
Alloway, Lawrence  Search this
Baraka, Amiri  Search this
Barthelme, Donald  Search this
Basquiat, Jean-Michel  Search this
Bruce, Lenny  Search this
Carmines, Al  Search this
Cornell, Joseph  Search this
De Kooning, Elaine  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Dine, Jim  Search this
Doyle, Tom  Search this
Drexler, Sherman  Search this
Geldzahler, Henry  Search this
Gilman, Richard  Search this
Hess, Thomas B.  Search this
Hesse, Eva  Search this
Hirshhorn, Joseph H.  Search this
Karp, Ivan C.  Search this
Katz, Alex  Search this
Kent, Allegra  Search this
Klein, William  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Kroll, Jack  Search this
Marx, Chico  Search this
Monroe, Marilyn  Search this
Neel, Alice  Search this
Newman, Barry  Search this
Perelman, S. J. (Sidney Joseph)  Search this
Rosenberg, Harold  Search this
Samaras, Lucas  Search this
Sontag, Susan  Search this
Teer, Barbara Ann  Search this
Warhol, Andy  Search this
Youskevitch, Igor  Search this
Garth Greenan Gallery  Search this
Hunter College  Search this
Kornblee Gallery  Search this
Reuben Gallery  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Place of publication, production, or execution:
New York (State)
Physical Description:
82 Pages, Transcript; 5 Items, Sound recording: 5 sound files (3 hr., 26 min.), digital, wav
Summary:
An interview with Rosalyn Drexler conducted 2017 May 17 and June 2 by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Garth Greenan Gallery in New York, New York.
Drexler discusses her childhood in the Bronx; her experiences studying dance and music; her higher education at Hunter College; attending films and the Yiddish Theater; meeting her husband Sherman Drexler; her time as a professional wrestler; her memories of traveling to the South and encountering Jim Crow segregation; she describes learning about art from Sherman Drexler and her joint exhibition with Sherman; her early work in sculpture; participating in Happenings with Jim Dine; joining Anita Reuben's gallery; her debut as a playwright; her experience writing "I am the Beautiful Stranger;" the changing public perception of her and being classified as an artist; her decision to become a painter and appropriating images for her work; the influence of S. J. Perelman on her plays; her play about Joseph Cornell and ballerina Allegra Kent, and interviewing Allegra Kent; her recent artwork and preparing for her 2017 show at Garth Greenan Gallery; her artwork from the 1980s and 1990s; her comedy writing and sense of humor. Drexler also recalls Chico Marx, Jack Newfield, Igor Youskevitch, Ivan Karp, Anita Reuben, Lucas Samaras, Richard Gilman, Al Carmines, Amiri Baraka, Barbara Ann Teer, Franz Kline, Elaine De Kooning, Bill de Kooning, Andy Warhol, Jack Kroll, Lawrence Alloway, Tom Hess, Barney Newman, Harold Rosenberg, Susan Sontag, Joe Hirshhorn, Henry Geldzahler, Donald Barthelme, Kornblee Gallery, Eva Hesse, Tom Doyle, William Klein, Marilyn Monroe, Alex Katz, Alice Neel, Basquiat, Saturday Night Live, and Lenny Bruce, among others.
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Rosalyn Drexler, 2017 May 17-June 2. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Funding:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation.
Biography Note:
Rosalyn Drexler (1926- ) is a sculptor, playwright, and novelist in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is a writer in Brooklyn, New York.
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:
Women wrestlers  Search this
Segregation -- United States  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Happenings (Art)  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)17499
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)389604
AAA_collcode_drexle17
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_389604