A diary kept by Pete Stanley primarily about a trip that he took by horse-drawn carriage with Mimi Gross, Red Grooms, Katharine Kean (known as KK), and Nello Falteri (known as Paperino) from Florence to Venice, Italy and back performing shadow puppet shows as Il Piccolo Circo d'Ombra di Firenze (the Little Shadow Circus from Florence). The diary includes entries from July 24, 1961 (leaving Florence) to August 23, 1961 (in Venice) and entries from March 24-31, 1962 about Stanley's travels in Germany. Also included are a few sketches of puppets and acquaintances, such as circus performer Alberto Adami.
Biographical / Historical:
Pete Stanley (1940- ) is a bluegrass musician in London, England.
Provenance:
Donated 2014 by Pete Stanley.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
An interview of Joseph A. Helman conducted 2010 January 4, by James McElhinney, for the Archives of American Art, at Helman's home in New York, New York.
Helman recalls three major events from his early life--the exhibition "Masterpieces from the Berlin Museums: 1948-1949," the film "Lust for Life," and collecting--that led to his career as an art dealer; buying his first painting, which was a Jasper Johns work; meeting the art dealer Leo Castelli; opening his first gallery in St. Louis in 1969; selling his gallery to Ronald Greenberg and moving to Italy with his family; attending the Sotheby's auction of the Robert C. Scull Collection in 1973; teaming up with Irving Blum to open the Blum Helman Gallery in New York City; organizing exhibitions of established and emerging artists. Helman speaks about his relationship with Emily Rauh Pulitzer and the St. Louis Art Museum; his Happening with Allan Kaprow; the story behind Claes Oldenburg's drawing Tongue Cloud, over St. Louis, 1975; discovering the work of Ralston Crawford; introducing American art to Spain. In addition, Helman discusses the contemporary art market; collectors and the process of collecting; and the redefinition of Pop art to include British and American artists of the 1980s. Throughout the interview Helman mentions the various artists he has represented, exhibited or collected such as Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg, Josef Albers, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Andy Warhol, Frank Stella, Ronald Davis, and Bryan Hunt.
Biographical / Historical:
Joseph A. Helman (1937- ) is an art dealer and collector in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 1 sound disc. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr.,19 min.
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.
Topic:
Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews Search this
Gloeden, Wilhelm von, Baron, 1856-1931 Search this
Extent:
6.7 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketches
Postcards
Notes
Place:
Italy -- Description and travel, Photographs
Mexico -- Description and travel, Photographs
Date:
1926-1975
Summary:
The papers of painter and theatrical set designer Eugene Berman date from 1926-1975 and measure 6.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered letters, primarily postcards, from various colleagues including Juliet and Man Ray and Berman's brother Leonid. There are also notes, scattered artwork, printed material, and extensive photographs, many of Mexico.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of painter and theatrical set designer Eugene Berman date from 1926-1975 and measure 6.7 linear feet. Found within the papers are scattered letters, primarily postcards, from various colleagues including Juliet and Man Ray and Berman's brother Leonid. There are also notes, scattered artwork, printed material, and extensive photographs, many of Mexico.
Notes include a booklet of photocopies of notes in Italian conerning miscellaneous art work, including prices. There are also scattered notes in French concerning miscellaneous topics.
Art work consists of miscellaneous sketches, primarily on the reverse sides of postcards, depicting human figures and architectural details, sometimes annotated in Russian and Italian.
Printed material includes clippings concerning Eugene and Leonid Berman's art work, exhibition announcements and catalogs, reproductions of art work by Berman, picture postcards, a ballet program, and a guide book for Grado, Italy.
Photographs comprise the largest series in this collection. Photographs of Eugene Berman include two by Russell Lynes. Photographs are also of Berman's wife, Ona Munson, unidentified colleagues, exhibition installations, art work executed by Berman between 1937 and 1948, and miscellaneous photographs of Italy including images by Vincenzo Galdi and Wilhelm von Gloeden. There are ten portfolios of photographs of Mexico, primarily taken by Berman, but Portfolios 1, 6, 9, and 10 include images photographed by Hugo Brehme. There are also commercially produced photographs of various scenes and art work primarily in Italy and Mexico, publicity photographs of ballet and opera performers, and two stereographs of novelty subjects.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Letters, 1926-1970 (Box 1, 8; 12 folders)
Series 2: Notes, 1944 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 3: Art Work, 1947 (Box 1; 2 folders)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1941-1975 (Box 1, 8; 1.5 linear feet)
Series 5: Photographs, 1933-1956 (Box, 2-9; 4.9 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Eugene Berman (1899-1972) worked in New York City, Los Angeles, California, and Rome, Italy as a Neo-Romantic painter and designer of theatrical sets and costumes for opera and ballet productions.
Eugene Berman was born on November 4, 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russia, the son of Lydia and Gustav Berman, who died when Eugene was seven years old. His stepfather was a wealthy banker who paid for his education in Germany, Switzerland, and France. In 1918, the family fled to Paris to escape the Bolshevik Revolution.
While in Paris, Berman studied at the Academie Ranson from 1920 to 1922, under Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Félix Valloton. With his brother Leonid, Berman joined a group of painters who became known as Neo-Romantics whose paintings were of melancholy dreamlike scenes with mournful figures, defying the prevalent abstract movements in art. By the late 1920s, Berman was beginning to successfully sell his paintings and after meeting American gallery owner Julian Levy, he was offered an exhibition in New York. Berman continued to exhibit at the Julian Levy Gallery from 1929 to 1947.
In 1935, Eugene and Leonid Berman became war refugees and came to New York City. Eugene Berman designed covers for fashionable publications and by 1937, he was painting murals in private residences and designing sets and costumes for opera and ballet performances including those at the Metropolitan Opera.
Berman moved to California in 1938, settling in Los Angeles, and continued to paint murals and design for the theater. He became an American citizen in 1944. Between 1947 and 1949, he received Guggenheim Fellowships to obtain background images from the Southwest United States and Mexico for use in his art work. Berman married actress Ona Munson in 1949.
Two years after his wife's suicide in 1955, Berman moved to Rome, Italy where he continued to paint and design sets for the theater.
Eugene Berman died on December 14, 1972 in Rome, Italy.
Provenance:
The Eugene Berman papers were donated by the artist's sister-in-law, Sylvia Marlowe Berman, in 1978.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The papers of sculptor and portrait painter Henry Kirke Brown measure 1 linear feet and date from 1836 to 1893. The collection includes Brown's correspondence with his wife, Lydia Louise Udall, his nephew, Henry Kirke Bush-Brown, and other family members. Also included are letters from artists George Catlin, George Fuller, Sanford R. Gifford, James Reid Lambdin, Louis Lang, Erastus Dow Palmer, Hiram Powers, Horatio Stone, and others; five news clippings; and miscellaneous notes.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of sculptor and portrait painter Henry Kirke Brown measure 1 linear feet and date from 1836 to 1893. The collection includes Brown's correspondence with his wife, Lydia Louise Udall, his nephew, Henry Kirke Bush-Brown, and other family members. Also included are letters from artists George Catlin, George Fuller, Sanford R. Gifford, James Reid Lambdin, Louis Lang, Erastus Dow Palmer, Hiram Powers, Horatio Stone, and others; five news clippings; and miscellaneous notes.
Brown's lengthy letters to his wife reveal his devotion to her and the conflict he felt between his art and his personal life. He discusses his work, including progress on his statue of George Washington, located in Union Square, New York City. Letters to his family from Rome and Florence allude to his awe of Italy's monuments. Also included are letters from Washington, D.C. during Brown's tenure as a member of the U.S. Art Commission in the 1860s.
Arrangement:
Due to the small size of this collection the papers are arranged as one series.
Biographical / Historical:
Henry Kirke Brown (1814-1886) was an American sculptor and portrait painter born in Leyden, Massachusetts and died in Newburgh, New York.
Provenance:
The Henry Kirke Brown papers were donated to the Archives of American in 1981 by Dorothy Young, who acquired the papers from her husband, an art dealer.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
An interview of Cindy Kolodziejski conducted 2007 May 5-16, by Frank Lloyd, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at the Frank Lloyd Gallery, in Santa Monica, California.
Kolodziejski speaks of moving in her early childhood from Germany to Arizona and finally to California; the divorce of her parents at a young age and her feelings of abandonment; her desire as a young child to be an artist; the early influence of her grandmother, an art teacher; teaching herself how to draw by copying images and creating still-lifes; an influential art teacher in high school who encouraged her to pursue college-level art classes and attend art school after graduation; her decision to enroll at Otis College of Art and Design; her foundation art classes at Otis and increasing interest in ceramics; choosing ceramics as a medium because of its flexibility and of form and potential for imagery; the value of her art education to her career; earning a Master of Fine Arts degree while teaching at California State University, Long Beach; the union of form, function, and imagery in her work, especially seen in a recent exhibition at the Frank Lloyd Gallery titled "Reversal of Fountain"; using the University of California, Los Angeles, libraries to find images at first, and later searching the internet for inspiration; creating pieces which play with and explore gender issues and sexuality; being reviewed and featured in articles which are especially concerned with issues of the body and femininity; the documentation of her art in various periodicals and texts, including a piece she wrote for Ceramics Monthly concerning her own work; gaining exposure through these articles, which helped to advance her career; the painstaking and technical process required to fashion her works of art; showing at the Garth Clark Gallery very quickly after graduation; traveling to Greece, China, Nepal, New York, and Italy, and being influenced by the exposure to the different art and cultures; recent travels with her daughter to Italy and feeling excited and humbled by the beauty of certain works; giving a talk at the Getty Museum about a show entitled "The Royal Menagerie" featuring the Meissen large-scale porcelain animals; participating in group shows in museums, particularly the "Color and Fire" exhibit which showcased important ceramicists from 1950 to 2000; being awarded various grants and feeling that applying for those awards is a very worthwhile experience for many artists; teaching first at the high school level and then in college; her teaching methods; forming friendships with fellow artists and art teachers; integrating the use of technology into her art-making process by finding and manipulating images on the computer; feeling motivated to produce in a positive way for exhibition deadlines; the support and friendships that developed through exhibiting with the Clark Garth and Frank Lloyd galleries; the encouragement and support she has been shown by her family throughout her career; and categorizing herself first and foremost as an artist rather than a craft artist or ceramicist. Kolodziejski recalls, Lita Albuquerque, Jill Giegerich, Peter Lodato, Barbara Thomason, Roy Dowell, Eugene Sturman, Carol Caroompas, Tony Marsh, Ralph Baccera, Adrian Saxe, Ron Nagle, Roseline Delisle, John Mason, Jo Lauria, David Pagel, Garth Clark, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Cindy Kolodziejski (1962- ) is a sculptor and painter from Venice, California. Frank Lloyd (1951- ) is a gallery owner from Santa Monica, California.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 10 min.
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.
An interview with Robert Mangold conducted 2017 November 16, by Christopher Lyon, for the Archives of American Art, at Mangold's studio in Washingtonville, New York.
Mangold speaks of his childhood in the North Tonawanda, New York; early experiences of drawing; attending the Cleveland Institute of Art, a summer program at Yale Norfolk, and graduate school at Yale; his first encounter and experiments with Abstract Expressionism in the late 1950s; the influence of Pop art and New York City's built environment on his work; moving to New York in 1962; the art world social scene of the early 1960s; his teaching career at SVA; his investigative approach to art-making; his approach to making series of works; the influence of living in the countryside on his work; his investigations of drawn lines in paintings beginning in the late '60s; his recent decision to hire an assistant; his formative summer of 1974 in Italy; his 2017 retrospective survey at Mnuchin Gallery; and his comments on certain pieces reproduced in the Pace Gallery catalogue of his work. Mangold also recalls Bernard Chaet, Alex Katz, Josef Albers, Brice Marden, Neil Welliver, Lucy Lippard, Robert Ryman, Sol LeWitt, Eva Hesse, Don Nice, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Mangold (1937- ) is a minimalist artist in New York, New York. Christopher Lyon (1949- ) is an author and publisher in Brooklyn, New York.
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.
The papers of sculptor Karl Bitter date from 1887 to 1977 and measure 2.5 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs of works of art and commemorative medals from expositions. Also found are scattered biographical information, family correspondence, two diaries, printed materials, sketchbooks, and sketches.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of sculptor Karl Bitter date from 1887 to 1977 and measure 2.5 linear feet. The bulk of the collection consists of photographs of works of art and commemorative medals from expositions. Also found are scattered biographical information, family correspondence, two diaries, printed materials, sketches, and sketchbooks.
Biographical material consists of one short biography of Karl Bitter. The bulk of the correspondence is to Bitter's children, Marietta (Mrs. Walter Abel) and Francis Bitter, and relates to the relocation of Bitter's caryatid sculptures on the St. Paul Building in New York City. There are typescripts of letters from Karl Bitter to sculptor Daniel C. French and from Marie Bitter to her children.
Two diaries from 1901 and 1909 kept by Bitter describe his trips abroad. The 1901 diary is similar to a scrapbook and was kept during his honeymoon with Marie Schevill. Their travels through France and Italy are vividly described through prose, sketches, maps, postcards, and a photo of Bitter and Marie. A 1909 diary is from Bitter's first trip back to Austria since he left for the United States. Written in the form of letters to his wife, he describes his reactions to being back in Europe, seeing his family, and sightseeing.
Scattered printed material includes a clipping, an exhibition announcement, a postcard, and reproductions of works of art by Bitter.
Photographs are of Bitter, his family and friends, studios, and sculpture. Also found are two photo albums containing many images of Bitter's sculptures throughout the country.
There are two sketchbooks and a print by Blanche Stollson. Also found are Bitter's commemorative medals from various international expositions.
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 6 series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, circa 1927 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 2: Family Correspondence, 1915-1958 (Box 1, 3 folders)
Series 3: Diaries, 1901-1909 (Box 1, 3; 0.1 linear feet)
Series 4: Printed Material, 1912-circa 1977 (Box 1, OV 7; 4 folders)
Series 5: Photographic Materials, 1887-circa 1960s (Box 1-5, OV 7; 1.0 linear feet)
Series 6: Artwork and Artifacts, circa 1890-1915 (Box 1, 3, 6; 1 linear foot)
Biographical / Historical:
Austrian-born sculptor Karl Bitter (1867-1915) was active in New York City, New York. He exhibited his works at worldwide expositions and examples of his sculpture and memorials can be found throughout the United States.
Karl Theodore Francis Bitter was born in Vienna, Austria, where he trained as a sculptor. While serving in the Austrian military in 1889, Bitter immigrated to the United States and applied for citizenship. Ultimately, Bitter settled in New York City and worked as an assistant in a home decorating firm while establishing his reputation as a sculptor. After winning a 1930 competition to design the Astor memorial bronze gates at Trinity Church, he used the funds to establish a small studio on 13th Street, which he shared with fellow sculptor Giuseppe Moretti. Bitter quickly established himself as a world-famous scuptor who also specialized in private memorials and works for public buildings.
After working as a sculptor at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and as director at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York in 1901, Bitter was named head of the sculpture programs at both the 1904 St. Louis Exposition and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition held in San Francisco, California.
Bitter was awarded the silver medal of the Paris Exposition, 1900; the gold medal of the Pan-American Exposition, 1901; and the gold medal at the St. Louis Exposition, 1904. He was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Design, American Academy of Arts and Letters, Players' Club, Century Club, and the Architectural League.
Karl Bitter married Marie Schevill with whom he had three children. He died suddenly in 1915 after being struck by a car.
Separated Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels N70-8 and N70-35) including biographical material, correspondence, and photographs. While most of these materials were later donated, the photographs remain with the lender and are not described in the collection container inventory.
Provenance:
Portions of the Karl Theodore Francis Bitter papers were lent for microfilming by Bitter's daughter, Marietta Bitter Abel, in 1969. Marietta Bitter Abel, Mr. Michael Abel, and Lt. Col. Jonathon F. Abel donated most of the loaned material excluding the photographs along with additional items in several increments from 1970-2010. The commemorative medals were gifted in 1975 by Walter Hancock, a friend of Bitter's son Francis.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
An interview of Niels Diffrient conducted 2010 July 28 and August 31, by Matilda McQuaid, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Diffrient's home and studio, in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
Diffrient speaks of growing up in Detroit while spending his summers with his mother's family in Mississippi; the value of growing up on a farm; attending Cass Technical High School in Detroit; realizing that he did not want to work in a factory; learning about crafts at Cranbrook Academy; travelling to Italy on a Fulbright Grant; working with Italian versus American designers; designing office chairs; the state of education in America. Diffrient's wife, Helena Hernmarck, contributes to the discussion of craft, weaving, and textiles. Diffrient also recalls Hans and Florence Knoll, Eero Saarinen, Eliel Saarinen, Chuck Bassett, David Rowland, Henry Dreyfuss, Bob King, Carl Magnusson, Raymond Loewy, Henry Wolf, Elizabeth Whelan, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Niels Diffrient (1928-2013) is an industrial designer in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Matilda McQuaid (1958-) is deputy curatorial director, Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 memory cards. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 58 min.
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.
Occupation:
Industrial designers -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Sponsor:
Funding for this interview was provided by the Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America.
An interview of David Holzapfel conducted 2008 January 26-March 2, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Holzapfel's home and studio, Applewoods Studio and Gallery, in Marlboro, Vermont.
Holzapfel speaks of his childhood; attending high school in Rome, Italy; university experiences at Marietta College and Marlboro College; studying Italian poetry; his favorite poets including Libero de Libero and Alfredo Giuliani; time spent traveling in Italy with wife Michelle; the births of their children; going to work for Roy Sheldon at Fabulous Tables; being self-taught in woodworking; starting his own furniture making workshop with Michelle; materials he prefers to work with, including maple, beech, and oak; his hollow furniture forms; travels throughout Europe and in Africa; his experience with craft shows and galleries, including Pritam & Eames and Peter Joseph; and his creative process. Holzapfel recalls Desmond O'Grady, Edmond Brelsford, Peter Joseph, Nathan Ancell, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
David Hozapfel (1950- ) is a self-taught woodworker in Marlboro, Vermont.
General:
Originally recorded on 3 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 36 min.
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.
An interview of Michelle Holzapfel conducted 2008 January 26-March 1, by Josephine Shea, for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, at Holzapfel's home and studio, Applewoods Studio and Gallery, in Marlboro, Vermont.
Holzapfel speaks of her childhood in Rhode Island; her large extended family and their French-Canadian heritage; working with her father in his machine shop; early art education and exposure from elementary school through high school; the influence of high school art teacher Audrey Blake; trips to Rhode Island School of Design Museum and Boston Museum of Fine Arts; attending Marlboro College; meeting her husband, David, at Marlboro; traveling in Italy with friends and David; earning her B.A. from Norwich College; participating in craft shows; having two children in two years; teaching experiences at Worcester Center for Crafts and Wood Turning Center; the difference in relationships with galleries and museums; the woodturning field; and the struggles and success of women artists; and plans for the future. Holzapfel recalls Gilbert Taylor, Barry Friedman, Glenn Adamson, Nathan Ancell, Peter Joseph, Kenneth Trapp, Chris Tyler, Albert LeCoff, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Michelle Hozapfel (1951- ) is a self-taught woodworker in Marlboro, Vermont.
General:
Originally recorded on 2 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 3 hr., 10 min.
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.
An interview of Robert Longo conducted 2009 January 30-31, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art, at Longo's studio, in New York.
Longo speaks of his Italian heritage, his family and growing up in Long Island, New York; the role magazines, television, and movies played in artistic inspiration; his dyslexia; his interest in sports and music in high school; moving to Denton, Texas to attend the University of North Texas before being expelled; moving back to New York and enrolling in Nassau Community College; traveling to Italy to study art history, where he discovered his desire to become an artist; attending Buffalo State University where he met Charlie Clough, Michael Zwack, and Cindy Sherman, with whom he created Hallwalls Contemporary Art Center; Robert Irwin, Sol LeWitt and Vito Acconci's involvement with Hallwalls; moving to New York City with Cindy Sherman to begin their careers as artists; working at The Kitchen and his performance pieces of the period; the child-like, punk, and corporate influences and the process of creating his "archetypical" Men in the Cities series; his relationship with Gretchen Bender; the formations of Metro Pictures gallery by Helene Winer and Janelle Reiring; the Combines, sculptures, music videos, and short films created in the 1980's and their mixed reception and mixed success in the difficult art market; his works cast in aluminum and metal; his first retrospective held at the LA County Museum of Art in 1989 and feeling lost in his own work; creating "bad art" in the process of attempting sobriety; black flag imagery and his success in Europe, which served as inspiration to move to Paris for several years; meeting his wife, Barbara Sukowa, a German actress; how having children changed his perspective and how they act as antennae to the world; his directorial role of the 1992 film, "Johnny Mnemonic"; and the slow progression, and continuity, of imagery in different bodies of work from the mid-1990's through the present, including the Magellan series (drawings of 366 different images), Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud's offices, and series of waves, bombs, roses, planets, sleeping babies, and sharks. Longo also recalls Leonora Fink, Phil Malkin, Rick Zucker, Les Krims, Troy Brauntuch, Jack Goldstein, Paul McMann, David Salle, Matt Mullican, Diane Shea, Alanna Heiss, Kasper Konig, Konrad Fischer, Brooke Alexander, Dominic Ranieri, William Gibson, Keanu Reeves, Emilio Mazzoli and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Robert Longo (1953- ) is a painter and sculptor in New York, New York. Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former executive director of iCI in New York, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 5 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 54 min.
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.
Black and white photographs and snapshots of France and Italy, presumably taken by James Turnure during one of his visits to Europe to see poet George Santayana. Turnure and Santayana are pictured in a few of the photographs. Also included are writings, presumably by Turnure, about visiting Rome and Sorrento, Italy.
Biographical / Historical:
James H. Turnure (1924- ) was a professor of art history in New York, New York and an acquaintance of George Santayana's.
Provenance:
Provenance unknown.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
The papers of New York art historian, museum director, curator, writer, and educator, Alan R. Solomon, measure 9.9 linear feet and date from 1907-1970, with the bulk of the material dating from 1944-1970. Through biographical material, correspondence, interview transcripts, writings and notes, teaching and study files, subject files, exhibition files, business records, printed material, and photographs, the collection documents Solomon's education, his early teaching appointments at Cornell University, and his subsequent direction of many diverse curatorial and research projects relating to contemporary American art, particularly the transition from Abstract Expressionism to later modern movements, and the thriving New York City art scene.
Scope and Contents:
The papers of New York art historian, museum director, curator, writer, and educator, Alan R. Solomon, measure 9.9 linear feet and date from 1907-1970, with the bulk of the material dating from 1944-1970. Through biographical material, correspondence, interview transcripts, writings and notes, teaching and study files, subject files, exhibition files, business records, printed material, and photographs, the collection documents Solomon's education, his early teaching appointments at Cornell University, and his subsequent direction of many diverse curatorial and research projects relating to contemporary American art, particularly the transition from Abstract Expressionism to later modern movements, and the thriving New York City art scene.
Biographical material includes résumés, an engagement book, and a monthly planning book from 1965, identification cards, and educational transcripts.
Correspondence documents Solomon's education at Harvard College and Harvard University, and his teaching appointments at Cornell University. Correspondence also provides some documentation of his involvement with museums and arts organizations, including the Jewish Museum, Stedlijk Museum, the San Francisco Art Institute, the University of California, and Centro de Artes Visuales; his submission of writings for publications including Artforum, Art International, and Konstrevy; and his relationships with artists and colleagues including Jim Dine, Joan Kron, Audrey Sabol, and Ileana Sonnabend. Also found is correspondence related to Solomon's work for Mary Sisler, who employed Solomon to sell her collection of artwork by Marcel Duchamp in the late 1960s.
One series comprises transcripts of interviews with many of the artists who were central to the transition from Abstract Expressionism to later modern movements that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, such as Neo-Dada and Pop art. Artists represented in the interviews include Jim Dine, Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol.
Solomon's writings include many of his essays for exhibition catalogs, magazines, and journals, and are in a combination of annotated manuscript and published formats. There are writings on Jim Dine, Barnett Newman, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns, and on the new movements in theater and performance art of the 1960s. His writings also document the art history education which informed all of his later work, with the inclusion of papers written as a student and teacher, his honors thesis on Odilon Redon, and his dissertation on Pablo Picasso. This material is supplemented by notes, and teaching and study files, documenting courses taken and taught at Harvard and Cornell universities. Also found is the manuscript of the text for New York: The New Art Scene, accompanied by a partial published copy of the book and photographs by Ugo Mulas.
Solomon's subject files augment several of the other series, comprising material on various art related subjects and individual painters and sculptors, arranged alphabetically. Material found here includes printed matter documenting exhibitions and other events, scattered letters from artists, related writings, and photographs.
One series documents Solomon's involvement with the First New York Theater Rally, which he co-produced with Steve Paxton in 1965. This material includes a drawing each by Jim Dine and Alex Hay, pieces of a combine by Robert Rauschenberg, and photographs of the group including Dine, Hay, and Rauschenberg, as well as Lucinda Childs, Judith Dunn, Deborah Hay, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, the Once Group, Steve Paxton, Yvonne Rainier, Alan Solomon, and Robert Whitman. The series includes multiple contact sheets of photos of First New York Theater Rally events, by Peter Moore, Elizabeth Novick, and Terry Schute.
Exhibition files document Solomon's role as an organizer and curator for some of his most well-known exhibitions, including American Painting Now (1967) for Expo '67 in Montreal; Andy Warhol (1966) at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston; Dine-Oldenburg-Segal (1967) at the Art Gallery of Ontario and Albright-Knox Gallery; the American exhibition at the 1964 Venice Biennale; Young Italians (1968) at the Institute of Contemporary Art; and Painting in New York 1944-1969, a major retrospective installed for the opening of the new Pasadena Art Museum in fall, 1969. Records include correspondence, lists and notes, financial records, printed material, and photographs of artists and installations, including a series by Ugo Mulas taken at the Venice Biennale.
Solomon's business records include lists, notes, contracts, expense forms, vouchers, purchase orders, and receipts. They provide scattered documentation of exhibition-related expenses and purchases of artwork, as well as Solomon's income from teaching appointments, lectures, honorariums, and writings. Amongst Solomon's general business records is an American Federation of Musicians agreement between the Institute of Contemporary Art and "Louis Reed," with booking agent Andy Warhol, for a performance by the Velvet Underground and Nico, performing as The Exploding Plastic Inevitable on October 29, 1966. This seemingly mundane item documents an event that accompanied Solomon's landmark Warhol exhibition of nearly forty iconic works, and the accompanying show by The Exploding Plastic Inevitable was hailed by the Boston Phoenix newspaper as one of the greatest concerts in Boston history.
Printed material includes announcements, catalogs, and posters for exhibitions and art related events, including two Jasper Johns lithographs for a 1960 exhibition at Galerie Rive Droite, and a 1963 exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery. Also found are news clippings, press releases, and other publications.
Photographs are of Solomon, artists, friends and colleagues, exhibitions and other events, and artwork. They include snapshots of Solomon, and a series of photographs of him at various events and parties, many taken by Ugo Mulas, as well as a photo taken by Robert Rauschenberg of Ugo Mulas, Michele Provinciali, and Solomon. Additional photos by Ugo Mulas include some which were probably taken for New York: The New Art Scene, and a series of photos of Robert Rauschenberg and others at the Venice Biennale. Photos of artists include Lee Bontecou, John Chamberlain, Jim Dine, Marcel Duchamp, Öyvind Fahlström, Laura Grisi, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Morris Louis, Barnett Newman, Kenneth Noland, Claes and Patty Oldenburg, Larry Poons, James Rosenquist, George Segal, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol and The Factory. Photos of others include Leo Castelli, Clement and Jeanine Greenberg, and Ethel and Robert Scull. Also found are photos of the exhibition Toward a New Abstraction (1963), at The Jewish Museum, photos of Venice, and photos of artwork by many of the above named, and other, artists. In addition to Ugo Mulas, photographers represented in this series include Nat Finkelstein, Robert R. McElroy, and Hans Namuth.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as eleven series.
Missing Title
Series 1: Biographical Material, 1938-1968 (5 folders; Box 1)
Series 2: Correspondence, 1930-1970 (0.66 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 3: Interviews, 1965-1969 (0.25 linear feet; Box 1)
Series 4: Writings and Notes, 1945-1969 (1.35 linear feet; Boxes 1-3, 11)
Series 5: Teaching and Study Files, 1944-1958 (0.25 linear feet; Box 3)
Series 6: Subject Files, 1907-1969 (2.92 linear feet; Boxes 3-6, 1, OV 12)
Series 7: First New York Theater Rally, 1963-1965 (0.15 linear feet; Boxes 6, 11)
Series 8: Exhibition Files, 1954-1969 (1.42 linear feet; Boxes 6-7, 11, OV 12)
Series 9: Business Records, 1945-1970 (0.3 linear feet; Boxes 7-8)
Series 10: Printed Material, 1914-1970 (0.8 linear feet; Boxes 8-9, OV 12)
Series 11: Photographs, circa 1951-circa 1970 (1.7 linear feet; Boxes 9-11, OV 13)
Biographical / Historical:
New York art historian, museum director, art consultant, educator, writer, and curator, Alan R. Solomon (1920-1970), organized over two hundred exhibitions in the course of his career. He was known for his skill in exhibition design, and for bringing the perception and understanding of an art historian to the field of contemporary art.
Solomon was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, and educated at Harvard College and Harvard Graduate School. In 1953, during his 1952-1962 tenure with the Cornell University department of art history, he established the Andrew Dickson White Museum of art. Solomon served as the museum's first director until 1961, whilst simultaneously pursuing his doctorate, which he received from Harvard University in 1962.
In 1962 Solomon was hired by the Jewish Museum in New York, New York, and immediately began to take the institution in a more contemporary direction, mounting Robert Rauschenberg's first retrospective in 1963, and a major Jasper Johns retrospective in 1964. Also, in 1963, Solomon was appointed the United States Commissioner for the 1964 Venice Biennale. He was determined to show "the major new indigenous tendencies, the peculiarly America spirt of the art" in works by two consecutive generations of artists, including Jasper Johns, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, and Robert Rauschenberg. With this in mind, and given the inadequacy of the existing space to house the installation he envisaged, Solomon secured a verbal agreement from Biennale officials to approve additional space for the American exhibition in an annex at the former American Consulate. The agreement was never formalized, however, and a series of administrative problems and controversies over the eligibility of the American submissions threatened to undermine Solomon's efforts. Nevertheless, Robert Rauschenberg became the first American to take the Grand Prize for foreign artist, and the attention garnered by the American exhibition monopolized press coverage of the Biennale. In response, Solomon stated publicly that "it is acknowledged on every hand that New York has replaced Paris as the world art capital."
Solomon subsequently left the Jewish Museum, having engendered resistance to leading the museum in a more experimental direction, away from the traditional Jewish educational aspects of its mission. In the mid-sixties he worked as a consultant and writer for a National Educational Television series entitled "U. S. A. Artists," which drew on artist interviews, many conducted by Solomon. He also wrote the text for Ugo Mulas's classic photographic study, New York: The New Art Scene (1967: Holt Rinehart and Winston).
In 1966 Solomon was hired by the United States Information Agency to organize the United States contribution to the Canadian World Exhibition in Montreal, known as Expo '67. His stunning American Painting Now installation placed large scale paintings by twenty-three artists, including Jim Dine, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Barnett Newman, Claes Oldenburg, Robert Rauschenberg, and James Rosenquist, inside Buckminster Fuller's twenty-story Biosphere of Montreal.
Other important exhibitions organized by Solomon included Andy Warhol (1966) at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, which was only the second of two exhibitions dedicated to the artist; Dine-Oldenburg-Segal (1967) at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery; and Young Italians (1968) at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Solomon was also interested in contemporary theater and organized the First New York Theater Rally with Steve Paxton in 1965, a series of performances which combined new dance and a revival of the Happenings of the early 1960s, in which Claes Oldenburg, Jim Dine and others were involved.
Following a six-week appointment as a senior lecturer at the University of California, Irvine, in spring 1968, Solomon became chairman of the University's art department and director of the art gallery. His last exhibition, Painting in New York, 1944-1969 (1969-1970), was held at the Pasadena Art Museum and closed in January 1970, just a few weeks before Solomon's sudden death at the age of forty-nine.
Provenance:
The Leo Castelli Gallery served as executor of Solomon's estate, and donated his papers to the Archives of American Art in 1974 and 2007.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York Search this
Perkins, Charles C. (Charles Callahan), 1823-1886 Search this
Extent:
64 Items ((on 2 partial microfilm reels))
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Place:
Spain -- History -- 19th century
Italy -- description and travel
Date:
1844-1868
Scope and Contents:
Sketches, watercolors, sketchbook, a photograph and an illustrated journal.
REEL 268: 58 pencil and pen and ink studies of sculpture in Italy; 3 watercolors; a photograph of Perkins; and a 27 page journal kept while in Spain, July 2-l8, 1854. Perkins writes mainly about the countryside, museums, the Alhambra, architecture, and military movements due to the insurrection in Madrid. The journal is illustrated with 6 drawings.
REEL 4677: A sketchbook, April-June, 1844, of travel in Italy, containing 20 pencil drawings of architecture, landscapes, and portraits of local people.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter, etcher, author, art and music critic; Boston, Mass. Perkins studied art in Rome and Paris and promoted art education for the masses. He organized the Boston Art Club and served as president, 1869-1879; was a founder and honorary director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and was instrumental in instituting an art curriculum for Massachusetts and the city of Boston. Perkins was the author of ITALIAN SCULPTORS and TUSCAN SCULPTORS, both illustrated by his own drawings.
Provenance:
Papers on reel 268 were received from heirs along with papers of Elizabeth Ward Perkins and Samuel Gray Ward. (Perkins was Elizabeth Ward Perkins' father-in-law.) The sketchbook on reel was lent for filming in 1991 by Diana Korzenik, who purchased it from a flea market in Nashua, New Hampshire and was told that it came from a Massachusetts house.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
An interview of Isamu Noguchi conducted 1973 Nov. 7-Dec. 26, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
NOVEMBER 7, 1973 session: Noguchi discusses his family background; growing up in Japan; returning to the United States in 1917; his identity as an artist; Gutzon Borglum; Columbia University and studying pre-med; attending Leonardo da Vinci Art School; apprenticing to Onorio Ruotolo; quitting Columbia to become a sculptor; Guggenheim Fellowship in 1927; J.B. Neumann; Alfred Stieglitz; George Grey Barnard; James Earle Fraser; Brummer and the Brummer Gallery; studying at Chaumiere and Collarosi; working with Brancusi; meeting Sandy Calder in Paris; Stuart Davis; Morris Kantor; Andrée Ruellan; his work, "Sphere"; reacting against Brancusi; Eugene Schoen's; his Carnegie Hall studio; Michio Ito; Martha Graham; Buckminster Fuller; traveling in China and Japan; meeting Chi Pai Shi; John Becker; his works, "Play Mountain," "Monument to the Plow," "Monument to Ben Franklin," and "Orpheus" for Balanchine; designing for the stage; Audrey McMahon; Harry Hopkins; Holger Cahill; Mexico; Diego Rivera; Miguel Covarrubias; and the Artists Union.
DECEMBER 10, 1973 Session: His reaction to the Spanish Civil War- avoided direct involvement; Stuart Davis; Gorky; Andre Breton; David Hare; Marcel Duchamp; John Graham; Julien Levy; his artist friends dying at the peak of their success; Leger; Stirling Calder; associating himself with the laboring class; Buckminster Fuller; being American; expanding the possibilities of sculpture; his Associated Press Building project in Rockefeller Center, it being done in stainless steel instead of bronze; John Collier; Japanese-American Citizens League; organizing Nisei Artists and Writers Mobilization for Democracy; Jeanne Reynal; going to Poston, Ariz. to assist with American Indian Service camp under John Collier and becoming an internee there; returning to New York in 1942; Bollingen Foundation; trip around the world in 1949; and Philip Guston.
DECEMBER 18, 1973 session: Best work in studio; reaction against expressionism; artists protesting against the Establishment; his objection to the WPA, influenced by William Zorach; exhibiting in group show called, "Fourteen Americans at the Museum of Modern Art"; show at Egan Gallery in 1949; accepting art in its most aesthetically pure form without reference to social issues; movement in Japan since war to get away from refinement of Japan; Yoshiro Hiro responsible for Gutai and the happenings; his work, "Monument to Heroes," using bones; his work takes years to do; materials used in his work; his work, "Cronos"; doing theater stage sets for the Library of Congress including, "Appalachian Spring" and "Herodiade"; wants a given space which he can call his own and do something with it, has to be a work of art.
DECEMBER 26, 1973 Session: Show with Charles Egan in 1948 arranged by de Kooning; applying to the Bollingen Foundation to write a book on leisure, which was never written; traveling to Italy, Egypt, and India for two years; being removed from the New York scene with Franz Kline and de Kooning; his light objects; sculpture as environment; respect for material; Mondrian and his art deriving from nature; his time in Japan in 1931; visiting Japan in 1951; working in stone; projects in Japan; Taniguchi; Antonin Raymond; designing Japanese gardens; discovery of Zen; Hasegawa Saburo; Skidmore; Hans Knoll; Edison Price; Italy in the 1960s; Peter Gregory; Henry Moore; Louis Kahn; UNESCO; Noguchi Foundation and Plaza Company; Shoji; Eleanor Ward; and his autobiography, "A Sculptor's World."
Biographical / Historical:
Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) was a Japanese American sculptor based in Long Island City, New York.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hrs., 25 min.
Provenance:
These interviews are part of the Archives' 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.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Foto Locchi. Employee at work at the Etruscan Glass Co., ca. 1940. Esther McCoy papers, circa 1876-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
