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Claire Falkenstein papers

Creator:
Falkenstein, Claire, 1908-1997  Search this
Names:
Coos Art Museum  Search this
Fresno Art Museum  Search this
Galerie Anderson-Mayer  Search this
Galerie Stadler  Search this
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
John Bolles Gallery (San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
Los Angeles Museum of Art  Search this
Malvina Miller  Search this
Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this
Merging One Gallery  Search this
Mills College -- Faculty  Search this
Pond Farm Workshop  Search this
San Francisco Museum of Art  Search this
University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts -- Faculty  Search this
Green, Ray, 1908-1997  Search this
Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
O'Donnell, May, 1906-2004  Search this
Sawyer, Kenneth B.  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-  Search this
Still, Patricia  Search this
Tapie, Michel  Search this
Temko, Allan  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Wildenhain, Frans, 1905-1980  Search this
Extent:
42.8 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Interviews
Date:
circa 1914-1997
bulk 1940-1990
Summary:
The papers of sculptor, painter, jewelry designer, and teacher Claire Falkenstein measure 42.8 linear feet and date from 1917 to her death in 1997. There is extensive correspondence with fellow artists, collectors, critics, friends, museums, and galleries. The collection also contains biographical materials, much of it collected and organized by Falkenstein, personal and business records, writings, diaries, exhibition files, commission files, teaching files, photographs, original artwork, scrapbooks, and printed materials. There is a short motion picture film of an interview with Falkenstein featuring the windows she designed for St. Basil's Church in Los Angeles.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of sculptor, painter, jewelry designer, and teacher Claire Falkenstein measure 42.8 linear feet and date from 1917 to her death in 1997. There is extensive correspondence with fellow artists, collectors, critics, friends, museums, and galleries. The collection also contains biographical materials, much of it collected and organized by Falkenstein, personal and business records, writings, diaries, exhibition files, commission files, teaching files, photographs, original artwork, scrapbooks, and printed materials. There is a short motion picture film of an interview with Falkenstein featuring the windows she designed for St. Basil's Church in Los Angeles.

Biographical material includes appointment calendars, awards and honorary degrees, interview transcripts, passports, resumes, wills, and scrapbooks. Scrapbooks were compiled by Falkenstein and focus primarily on her exhibitions at the Galerie Stadler and Gallery Meyer in 1959 and 1960. Also of interest are the "biography files" created and arranged by Falkenstein. These files contain material that she personally felt was the most important in documenting her activities each year. They include correspondence, exhibition catalogs, printed material, and invitations.

Measuring nine linear feet, correspondence is extensive and comprehensively documents Falkenstein's work, social life, relationships, and other business and personal activities. Correspondence dates from 1941 to 1997 and includes business letters and correspondence with friends and family. Her communications with friends, family, clients, gallery owners, collectors, museums, publishers, foundations, and grant agencies reveal many of her ideas and techniques. Individual correspondents include Ray Green, Peggy Guggenheim, Katharine Kuh, May O'Donnell, Ken Sawyer, Clyfford and Pat Still, Michel Tapie, Allan Temko, Mark Tobey, and Frans Wildenhain. Gallery and museum correspondence is with the San Francisco Museum of Art, Coos Art Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Art, Galerie Stadler (Paris), Gallery Mayer (Paris), Malvina Miller (New York), Martha Jackson Gallery (New York), Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Los Angeles), Galerie Anderson-Mayer (Paris), and Bolles Gallery. Correspondence is also found in the Commission Files and Exhibition Files.

Personal and business records contain a wide variety of material documenting Falkenstein's business, financial, legal, professional, and personal transactions. Files are found for sales and prices, art inventories, smaller jewelry commissions, her work as a juror, her business with galleries, legal affairs and contracts, expenses, records of arts organizations to which she belonged, conferences, grants and fellowships, studio and house renovations, her Paris studio and Paris expenses, travel, donations, loans and consignments, conservation, art shipping, insurance, and taxes. Oversized visitor's logs contain comments from visitors to Falkenstein's studio in Venice, California.

Falkenstein maintained comprehensive documentation of her exhibitions from her first exhibition in the 1930s to the last one at the Merging One Gallery in 1996. Files include both a chronological record and individual record for nearly all of her exhibitions. Found with the files are correspondence, photographs, loan and shipping records, catalogs, announcements, clippings, articles, and other records. Most of the photographs related to exhibitions are found in the Photographs Series. The files for exhibitions at the Fresno Art Museum, Martha Jackson Gallery and Jack Rutberg Fine Art Gallery are particularly rich.

Commission files document nearly all of Falkenstein's public and private large-scale projects and often contain a visual record of the work, as well as correspondence, design notes, contracts, and expense reports. There is documentation of the St. Basils Church windows in Los Angeles; the Peggy Guggenheim gate in Venice, Italy; and the fountain at the California Savings and Loan, in Los Angeles; and many others. There is also a chronological record of her commissions. The bulk of the photographs of commissions are found in the Photograph series. Also, most of Falkenstein's jewelry design commissions are found in the Personal and Business Records series.

Falkenstein's work as a prolific writer, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, is well-documented here through her numerous published articles in Arts and Architecture magazine, and the New York Herald-Tribune. Her work for Arts and Architecture was primarily written for the "Art Comments from San Francisco" section. She was living in Paris when she contributed an art news column to the New York Herald-Tribune. Also found here are five diaries and one journal dating from circa 1929-1978. The entries are inconsistent and concern mostly travel. The diaries from 1929 and 1934 are more personal. Falkenstein also maintained extensive notes and notebooks about artwork ideas, observations about art, research, and even drafts of letters. There are also many notes about various topics, including art and class notes. Additional writings are eclectic and cover a wide range of topics, including music, poetry, the script for Falkestein's film entitled Touching the Quick, and drafts of her unpublished book on murals. A handful of writings by others are found, most with annotations by Falkenstein.

Teaching files include Falkenstein's numerous lectures given while teaching at Mills College, Pond Farm Workshops, and California School of Fine Arts, and various symposiums and conferences. Also found are lesson plans, contracts, scattered correspondence, and notes. The files on her tenure at the Pond Farm Workshops are particularly interesting, with notes about her fellow teacher Frans Wildenhain and correspondence with workshop owners, Jane and Gordon Herr.

There are extensive photographs of Falkenstein, her family and friends, colleagues, commissions, exhibitions, and works of art. Included are many images of Falkenstein, of Falkenstien with her art, of Falkentstien working, and of Falkenstein's studio. There are numerous photographs of Falkenstein with friends, family, and colleagues in social or work settings. Also found are photographs of exhibition openings, installation views, and works of art exhibited. Additional photographs document Falkenstein's commissions, including images of her at work. Additional images of commissions may also be found in the Commission Series, but the bulk are filed here. There are numerous photographs of Falkenstein's works of art, including drawings, sculpture, jewelry, murals, lamps, and ceramics.

Falkenstein's papers include a large amount of sketches, sketchbooks, and drawings. Many of the sketches and drawings relate to her ideas about commissions and large sculpture, jewelry designs, and general sketches. Sketches are also found in the Commission Files. Also included are drawings by Mark Tobey and Michel Tapie, and others.

Finally, printed materials include general exhibition catalogs, newspapers clippings, and clippings of articles by and about Falkenstein. Also included are books that have been inscribed and signed by the author.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into 9 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1934-1997 (Box 1-4, 41; 4.3 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1997 (Box 5-13; 9 linear feet)

Series 3: Personal and Business Records, 1936-1997 (Box 14-17, 41, 46-49; 4.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Exhibitions, 1930-1996 (Box 18-21, 42, OV 50; 3.3 linear feet)

Series 5. Commissions, 1930-1992 (Box 21-22, OV 50-54 ; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 6: Writings, circa 1929-1993 (Box 22-26, 42, 55; 4.6 linear feet)

Series 7: Teaching Files, 1929-1995 (Box 26; .8 linear feet)

Series 8: Photographs, circa 1917-1997 (Box 27-35, 43, 55-56; 9.5 linear feet)

Series 9: Artwork, circa 1937-1995 (Box 36-37, 44, 57; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 10: Printed Materials, circa 1914-1990 (Box 37-40, 45, 58; 3.9 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Claire Falkenstein (1908-1997) spent the majority of her life working as an artist, sculptor, jewelry designer, teacher, and writer in California.

Claire Falkenstein was born in 1908 and grew up in Coos Bay, Oregon. In 1920, Falkenstein and her family moved to Berkeley, California, where she attended high school and then college at the University of California at Berkeley, studying philosophy, anthropology, and art. She graduated in 1930. Falkenstein had her first solo show at the East-West Gallery in San Francisco in 1930, the only member of her class to have an exhibition before graduation.

During the early 1930s, Falkenstein studied at Mills College with modernist sculptor Alexander Archipenko. There she also met Bauhaus artists Laszlo Moholy-Nagy and Gyorgy Kepes. Falkenstein married her high school sweetheart, Richard McCarthy in 1936.

In 1944, Falkenstein had her first New York exhibition at the Bonestall Gallery. At that time, Falkenstein's primary mediums were stone and wood. However, she became increasingly experimental with new materials that included sheet aluminum, Cor-Ten steel, glass, plastics, and welded wire rods while maintaining a connection to organic and natural forms. Her work in jewelry design was an outlet for exploring these new materials, forms, and techniques on a small scale. As her work grew physically larger, so did her recognition and it was her work in sculpture that won her a faculty appointment at the California School of Fine Arts from 1947-1949. It was here that she met Patricia and Clyfford Still, Hassel Smith, and Richard Diebenkorn.

In 1948, Falkenstein was invited to exhibit at the Salon des Realites Nouvelle in Paris, her first European show. She eventually moved to Europe in 1950 and had studios in Paris, Venice, and Rome. While in Europe, Falkenstein executed a number of large scale commissions, including the stair screen for Galerie Stadler (1955), grotto gates for Princess Pignatelli's villa in Rome (1957), and the bronze, steel, and the glass gate at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice (1961). While in Paris, she became acquainted with noted art critic Michel Tapie, with whom she maintained a life-long friendship.

During the 1940s and 1950s Falkenstein was a regular contributor to Arts and Architecture magazine, most often writing the "Art Comments from San Francisco" section. While in Paris, she also wrote a column on art news for the New York Herald Tribune.

Falkenstein returned to the United States in 1962, eventually renovating a studio space in Venice, California. It was here that she conceived her largest commissions. In 1965, Falkenstein received a commission from the California Savings and Loan to create a sculpture for a large fountain at the front of the bank in downtown Los Angeles. The copper tube fountain, entitled "Structure and Flow #2," was the first of many large scale public art commissions that Falkenstein completed during her years in California. Her most important commission in the United States, completed in 1969, was for the doors, rectory gates and grills and stained-glass windows for St. Basil's Church on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. The eight doors and fifteen rectory screens, including 80 foot high windows in the nave, were an expansion of the "never ending screen" concept that Falkenstein executed with the Pignatelli commission in Rome. She continued to use this motif in her work throughout her career.

Claire Falkenstein worked as an arts instructor, visiting artist, and guest lecturer at many colleges, workshops, and schools in California. Her first position was at Mills College from 1946-1947. Shortly thereafter, she was appointed to the faculty at the California School of Fine Arts and later taught in the Extension Divisions of the University of California, Berkeley. She taught classes at California State Polytechnic University, California State University at Davis, and the Anna Head School. Falkenstein also taught art at the Pond Farm Workshops in California, and lectured at numerous colleges and museums. She served on many juried art shows in Southern California.

Falkenstein was acquainted with many artists, writers, instructors, collectors, gallery owners, and critics. Close friends included Esther and Bob Robles, Clyfford and Patricia Still, Michel Tapie, Allan Temko, Mark Tobey, Frans Wildenhain, and other notable figures in the art world.

Falkenstein continued to complete large scale private and public commissioned sculptures during the 1960s through the 1980s, including work for the University of Southern California, Hyland Biological Laboratory, California State University at Dominquez Hills and the California State Department of Motor Vehicles. Throughout her career, Falkenstein's work was featured in numerous exhibitions across the country. Her sculpture and other artwork can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Coos Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museum, University of Southern California Fisher Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery.

Falkenstein died in 1997 at the age of 89.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art also holds two oral history interviews with Claire Falkenstein. The interview on April 13, 1965 was conducted by Betty Hoag and the one on March 2 and 21, 1995 was conducted by Paul Karlstrom.
Provenance:
The Claire Falkenstein papers were donated in 1997 by Steffan Wacholtz and Nancy Kendall, trustees for the Claire Falkenstein Trust.
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.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- California  Search this
Painters -- California  Search this
Jewelers -- California  Search this
Educators -- California  Search this
Authors -- California  Search this
Topic:
Art patronage  Search this
Artists' studios  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women designers  Search this
Women educators  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Interviews
Citation:
Claire Falkenstein papers, circa 1914-1997, bulk 1940-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.falkclai
See more items in:
Claire Falkenstein papers
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9911c74ff-413b-4b54-9280-89c8b0480495
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-falkclai
Online Media:

Avis Berman research material on Katharine Kuh, 1939-2006

Creator:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Subject:
Lebrun, Rico  Search this
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this
Rich, Daniel Catton  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
Harmon, Lily  Search this
Kaufmann, Edgar  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Arensberg, Walter  Search this
Dale, Chester  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Citation:
Avis Berman research material on Katharine Kuh, 1939-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Art, Modern  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)13638
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)272295
AAA_collcode_bermavis3
Theme:
Women
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_272295
Online Media:

Lily Harmon papers

Creator:
Harmon, Lily, 1912-  Search this
Names:
Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981  Search this
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this
Nierendorf, Karl  Search this
Odets, Clifford, 1906-1963  Search this
Schmid, Elsa, 1897-  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this
Warburg, Edward M. M.  Search this
Interviewee:
Ashton, Dore  Search this
Avery, Sally  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this
Bruno, Phillip A.  Search this
Copley, Alfred L.  Search this
Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this
Drew, Bettina, 1956-  Search this
Driggs, Elsie, 1898-1992  Search this
Hertzberg, Benjamin  Search this
Hutton, Leonard, Sir  Search this
Isaacs, Lewis  Search this
Kahn, Max, 1903-2005  Search this
Knotts, Howard  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Lamm, Johanna Neumann  Search this
Manacher, Frances  Search this
Neumann, Albrecht  Search this
Neumann, Peter, 1928-  Search this
Rothbaum, Nolbert  Search this
Sapanel, Margarete  Search this
Schultz, Margarete  Search this
Solman, Joseph, 1909-2008  Search this
Stix, Hugh  Search this
Vogel, Ilse Margret  Search this
Extent:
6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Date:
1930-1996
Scope and Contents:
Primarily research files and notes, subject files, interview tapes and transcripts, correspondence, writings, and other materials compiled by Harmon for a never-published biography of art dealer J.B. Neumann, titled The Art Lover. Found are photocopies of J.B. Neuman's correspondence with Karl Nierendorf, Clifford Odets, Elsa Schmid, and Alfred Stieglitz; photocopies and other materials from the J.B. Neumann Collection at the University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Center, including photocopies of the magazine published by Neumann titled Art Lover Library, 1930-1957 (volume 1, 1930 is original bound volume), copyprints and photocopies of photographs of Neumann, his family, and of other subjects; interview transcripts and audio tapes with numerous artists conducted in the mid-1980s; research notes and files; and subject files on numerous artists (all photocopies).
Harmon's personal papers include resumes; copies of letters from friends, family, dealers and others; photographs of Harmon's paintings; writings, including poems, excerpts from diaries, autobiographical essays, and her autobiography FREEHAND; photocopies of various mss. drafts of Harmon's biography of Neumann, The Art Lover, and related writings by Harmon, including The Art Dealer and the Playwright, and Synopsis of Art Lover, ca. 1987-1990 ; a transcript of an interview of Harmon conducted by Karl Fortress, 1967; magazine and newspaper clippings; exhibition announcements and catalogs; and miscellany.
Interviewees include: Dore Ashton, Sally Avery, Alfred Barr, Phillip Bruno, Al Copley, Dorothy Dehner, Bettina Drew (about Nelson Algren), Elsie Driggs (also found is a video interview and transcript of Driggs by Merryman Gatch, n.d.), Ben Hertzberg, Leonard Hutton, Lewis Isaacs, Max Kahn, Katharine Kuh, Johanna Neumann Lamm, Frances Manacher, Peter Neumann, Albrecht Neumann, Nolbert Rothbaum, Margarete Schultz, Joseph Solman, Margarete Sapanel, Hugh Stix, Ilse Vogel with Howard Knotts, and Edward M.M. Warburg.
Biographical / Historical:
Painter and sculptor; New York City. Harmon worked for the influential art dealer J.B. Neumann, and spent several years preparing a biography of him which was never published. As an artist, she lived in Europe in the early part of the century, and worked on WPA art projects in the 1930s.
Provenance:
Donated 1983 and 1998 by Lily Harmon.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.
Occupation:
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Identifier:
AAA.harmlily
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9f94dc6db-1401-409d-b617-4439c4f8fb03
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-harmlily

Claire Falkenstein papers, circa 1914-1997, bulk 1940-1990

Creator:
Falkenstein, Claire, 1908-1997  Search this
Subject:
O'Donnell, May  Search this
Still, Patricia  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Sawyer, Kenneth B.  Search this
Guggenheim, Peggy  Search this
Green, Ray  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Wildenhain, Frans  Search this
Tapie, Michel  Search this
Temko, Allan  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Pond Farm Workshop  Search this
Merging One Gallery  Search this
San Francisco Museum of Art  Search this
John Bolles Gallery (San Francisco, Calif.)  Search this
Jack Rutberg Fine Arts (Los Angeles, Calif.)  Search this
Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this
Malvina Miller  Search this
Los Angeles Museum of Art  Search this
Coos Art Museum  Search this
Galerie Anderson-Mayer  Search this
Galerie Stadler  Search this
Fresno Art Museum  Search this
Mills College  Search this
University of California, San Francisco. School of Fine Arts  Search this
Type:
Sketchbooks
Diaries
Scrapbooks
Interviews
Citation:
Claire Falkenstein papers, circa 1914-1997, bulk 1940-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art patronage  Search this
Artists' studios  Search this
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women designers  Search this
Women educators  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this
Women  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6135
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)216351
AAA_collcode_falkclai
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks
Women
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_216351
Online Media:

Oral history interview with Katharine Kuh, 1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24

Interviewee:
Kuh, Katharine, 1904-1994  Search this
Interviewer:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Subject:
Rothko, Mark  Search this
Adams, Ansel  Search this
Albers, Josef  Search this
Albright, Ivan  Search this
Archipenko, Alexander  Search this
Arensberg, Walter  Search this
Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson)  Search this
Avery, Milton  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this
Berenson, Bernard  Search this
Davis, Stuart  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Ernst, Max  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
Hofmann, Hans  Search this
Kepes, Gyorgy  Search this
Klee, Paul  Search this
Léger, Fernand  Search this
Mérida, Carlos  Search this
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig  Search this
Moholy-Nagy, László  Search this
Newman, Barnett  Search this
Noguchi, Isamu  Search this
Paepcke, Walter Paul  Search this
Porter, Eliot  Search this
Ray, Man  Search this
Rich, Daniel Catton  Search this
Smith, David  Search this
Stamos, Theodoros  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Tamayo, Rufino  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Tworkov, Jack  Search this
Weston, Edward  Search this
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this
First National Bank of Chicago  Search this
Vassar College  Search this
Katharine Kuh Gallery (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Katharine Kuh, 1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Saturday review  Search this
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Women  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)12186
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215638
AAA_collcode_kuh82
Theme:
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Women
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_215638

Oral history interview with Anne Rorimer, 2010 November 15-16

Interviewee:
Rorimer, Anne, 1944-  Search this
Interviewer:
Richards, Judith Olch  Search this
Subject:
Acconci, Vito  Search this
Asher, Michael  Search this
Broodthaers, Marcel  Search this
Buchloh, B. H. D.  Search this
Buren, Daniel  Search this
Castelli, Leo  Search this
D'Harnoncourt, Anne  Search this
Geldzahler, Henry  Search this
Graham, Dan  Search this
Hesse, Eva  Search this
Hale, Robert Beverly  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Lippard, Lucy R.  Search this
LeWitt, Sol  Search this
Lowry, Bates  Search this
Maxon, John  Search this
Morris, Robert  Search this
Nauman, Bruce  Search this
Newman, Muriel Kallis Steinberg  Search this
Rorimer, James J. (James Joseph)  Search this
Smith, Tony  Search this
Speyer, A. James  Search this
Stamos, Theodoros  Search this
Tucker, Marcia  Search this
Wegman, William  Search this
Weiner, Lawrence  Search this
Albright-Knox Art Gallery  Search this
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Bryn Mawr College  Search this
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
Victoria and Albert Museum  Search this
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Anne Rorimer, 2010 November 15-16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Conceptual art  Search this
Curators -- Illinois -- Chicago -- Interviews  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)15880
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)295421
AAA_collcode_rorime10
Theme:
Women
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_295421
Online Media:

Oral history interview wih Clara Diament Sujo, 2010 June 8-16

Interviewee:
Diament Sujo, Clara, 1921-2020  Search this
Interviewer:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Subject:
Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this
Córdova, Arturo de  Search this
D'Harnoncourt, Rene  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
Hughes, Langston  Search this
Johns, Jasper  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Lam, Wifredo  Search this
Marisol  Search this
Messer, Thomas M.  Search this
Miller, Dorothy Canning  Search this
Otero Rodríguez, Alejandro  Search this
Perón, Juan Domingo  Search this
Pollock, Jackson  Search this
Rauschenberg, Robert  Search this
Reverón, Armando  Search this
Romero Brest, Jorge  Search this
Soto, Jesús Rafael  Search this
Sterne, Hedda  Search this
Valera, Víctor  Search this
Elizabeth Murray Oral History of Women in the Visual Arts Project  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview wih Clara Diament Sujo, 2010 June 8-16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this
Latino and Latin American artists  Search this
Women art dealers  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Latino and Latin American  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)15879
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)295424
AAA_collcode_diamen10
Theme:
Women
Latino and Latin American
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_295424
Online Media:

The open eye in pursuit of art

Author:
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Physical description:
xii, 272 p illus 22 cm
Type:
Books
Art criticism
Critiques d'art
History
Date:
1971
20th century
20e siècle
Topic:
Art criticism  Search this
Art criticism--History  Search this
Critique d'art--Histoire  Search this
Call number:
N7475 .K96
N7475.K96
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_7292

Lily Harmon papers, 1930-1996

Creator:
Harmon, Lily, 1912-1998  Search this
Subject:
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this
Algren, Nelson  Search this
Ashton, Dore  Search this
Avery, Sally  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this
Bruno, Phillip A.  Search this
Copley, Alfred L.  Search this
Dehner, Dorothy  Search this
Drew, Bettina  Search this
Driggs, Elsie  Search this
Hertzberg, Benjamin  Search this
Hutton, Leonard, Sir  Search this
Isaacs, Lewis  Search this
Kahn, Max  Search this
Knotts, Howard  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Lamm, Johanna Neumann  Search this
Manacher, Frances  Search this
Neumann, Albrecht  Search this
Neumann, Peter  Search this
Nierendorf, Karl  Search this
Odets, Clifford  Search this
Rothbaum, Nolbert  Search this
Sapanel, Margarete  Search this
Schmid, Elsa  Search this
Schultz, Margarete  Search this
Solman, Joseph  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred  Search this
Stix, Hugh  Search this
Vogel, Ilse Margret  Search this
Warburg, Edward M. M.  Search this
Type:
Interviews
Sound recordings
Video recordings
Citation:
Lily Harmon papers, 1930-1996. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Women artists  Search this
Women painters  Search this
Women sculptors  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)7659
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)209822
AAA_collcode_harmlily
Theme:
Women
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_209822

Lee Gatch papers, 1925-1979

Creator:
Gatch, Lee, 1902-1968  Search this
Subject:
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this
Phillips, Duncan  Search this
Willard, Marian  Search this
Driggs, Elsie  Search this
Kahn, Max  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Mumford, Lewis  Search this
World House Galleries  Search this
Citation:
Lee Gatch papers, 1925-1979. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painting, Modern -- 20th century  Search this
Theme:
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)8962
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211149
AAA_collcode_gatcleep
Theme:
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211149

Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk 1930-1994

Creator:
Kuh, Katharine, 1904-1994  Search this
Subject:
Johns, Jasper  Search this
Guggenheim, Peggy  Search this
Feitelson, Lorser  Search this
Falkenstein, Claire  Search this
Davis, Stuart  Search this
Elizabeth, Queen of Great Britain, II  Search this
Motherwell, Robert  Search this
Moholy-Nagy, László  Search this
Millier, Arthur  Search this
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig  Search this
O'Higgins, Pablo  Search this
Nutting, Myron Chester  Search this
Nutting, Muriel Leone Tyler  Search this
Mérida, Carlos  Search this
Perkins, Frances  Search this
Ozbekhan, Hasan  Search this
Orozco, José Clemente  Search this
Calder, Alexander  Search this
Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson)  Search this
Rich, Daniel Catton  Search this
Ray, Man  Search this
Biddle, George  Search this
Pollack, Peter  Search this
Seligmann, Kurt  Search this
Shackelford, Shelby  Search this
Sandberg, Carl  Search this
Putnam, Wallace  Search this
Sterne, Hedda  Search this
Shahn, Ben  Search this
Spaeth, Otto  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Winston, Harry Lewis  Search this
Barnet, Will  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Tanning, Dorothea  Search this
Woolf, Olga  Search this
Young, Victor  Search this
Goto, Joseph  Search this
Golub, Leon  Search this
Graves, Robert  Search this
Grabe, Klaus  Search this
Giacometti, Alberto  Search this
Friendly, Fred W.  Search this
Hirshhorn, Joseph  Search this
Hayter, Stanley William  Search this
Hélion, Jean  Search this
Hofmann, Hans  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr.  Search this
Hare, Denise Browne  Search this
Hare, David  Search this
Kandinsky, Wassily  Search this
Kepes, Gyorgy  Search this
Kepes, Juliet  Search this
Inverarity, Robert Bruce  Search this
Johnson, Philip  Search this
Johnson, Ray  Search this
Le Corbusier  Search this
Lundeberg, Helen  Search this
Lye, Len  Search this
Léger, Fernand  Search this
Klee, Paul  Search this
Kline, Franz  Search this
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)  Search this
Knox, Seymour H.  Search this
Archipenko, Alexander  Search this
Albright, Ivan  Search this
Albers, Josef  Search this
Adams, Ansel  Search this
Guston, Philip  Search this
Arp, Jean  Search this
Arensberg, Walter  Search this
Cornell, Joseph  Search this
Picasso, Pablo  Search this
Cox, Richard  Search this
Rothko, Mark  Search this
Chavez Morado, José  Search this
Chermayeff, Serge  Search this
Campoli, Cosmo  Search this
Chagall, Marc  Search this
Breuer, Marcel  Search this
Ernst, Jimmy  Search this
Dubuffet, Jean  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel  Search this
De Kooning, Willem  Search this
Dickinson, Edwin Walter  Search this
Day, Worden  Search this
Katharine Kuh Gallery (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Albright-Knox Art Gallery  Search this
Biennale di Venezia  Search this
Type:
Illustrated letters
Resumes
Travel diaries
Minutes
Calendars
Visitors' books
Photographs
Paintings
Awards
Drawings
Sound recordings
Collages
Scrapbooks
Lithographs
Prints
Wills
Watercolors
Poetry
Lecture notes
Lectures
Sales records
Citation:
Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk 1930-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art, Abstract -- United States  Search this
Art, American  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- United States  Search this
Women art dealers  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women museum curators  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Art Gallery Records  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9951
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212503
AAA_collcode_kuhkath
Theme:
Women
Art Gallery Records
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_212503
Online Media:

New directions in American painting and sculpture, 1960 Apr. 13

Creator:
Federation of Modern Painters and Sculptors  Search this
Subject:
Christ-Janer, Albert  Search this
Crehan, Hubert  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Canaday, John  Search this
Botkin, Henry  Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Citation:
New directions in American painting and sculpture, 1960 Apr. 13. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this
Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this
Theme:
Art organizations  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)10695
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)214296
AAA_collcode_fedemods
Theme:
Art organizations
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_214296

Thomas M. Messer papers, 1949-2010

Creator:
Messer, Thomas M.  Search this
Subject:
Rickey, George  Search this
Barnet, Will  Search this
Still, Clyfford  Search this
Chryssa  Search this
Flavin, Dan  Search this
Chagall, Marc  Search this
Moore, Henry, 1898-1986  Search this
Knowlton, Grace  Search this
Dubuffet, Jean  Search this
Giacometti, Alberto  Search this
Tworkov, Jack  Search this
Ernst, Max  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Simonds, Charles  Search this
Frankenthaler, Helen  Search this
Bell, Larry  Search this
Bacon, Francis  Search this
Hamilton, Richard  Search this
Martin, Agnes  Search this
Koczy, Rosemarie  Search this
Bury, Pol  Search this
Hélion, Jean  Search this
Kolá?, Ji?í  Search this
Burri, Alberto  Search this
Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation  Search this
Type:
Transcripts
Diaries
Citation:
Thomas M. Messer papers, 1949-2010. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Theme:
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6570
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)215863
AAA_collcode_messthom
Theme:
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_215863
Online Media:

Transcript of interview with Katharine Kuh, 1993 Jan. 26-27

Creator:
Kuh, Katharine, 1904-1994  Search this
Smith, John W  Search this
Subject:
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Citation:
Transcript of interview with Katharine Kuh, 1993 Jan. 26-27. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Women authors  Search this
Women art critics  Search this
Women art historians  Search this
Women museum curators  Search this
Women art dealers  Search this
Theme:
Women  Search this
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource  Search this
Research and writing about art  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)15668
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)282678
AAA_collcode_kuhkath2
Theme:
Women
Chicago's Art-Related Archival Materials: A Terra Foundation Resource
Research and writing about art
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_282678

Oral history interview with Katharine Kuh

Topic:
Saturday review
Interviewee:
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Interviewer:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Creator:
Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project  Search this
Names:
Art Institute of Chicago  Search this
Black Mountain College (Black Mountain, N.C.)  Search this
First National Bank of Chicago -- Art collections  Search this
Katharine Kuh Gallery (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project  Search this
Vassar College  Search this
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984  Search this
Albers, Josef  Search this
Albright, Ivan, 1897-1983  Search this
Archipenko, Alexander, 1887-1964  Search this
Arensberg, Louise S. (Louise Stevenson), 1879-1953  Search this
Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954  Search this
Avery, Milton, 1885-1965  Search this
Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this
Berenson, Bernard, 1865-1959  Search this
Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964  Search this
De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this
Ernst, Max, 1891-1976  Search this
Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966  Search this
Kepes, Gyorgy, 1906-2001  Search this
Klee, Paul, 1879-1940  Search this
Léger, Fernand, 1881-1955  Search this
Mies van der Rohe, Ludwig, 1886-1969  Search this
Moholy-Nagy, László, 1895-1946  Search this
Mérida, Carlos, 1891-1984  Search this
Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970  Search this
Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this
Paepcke, Walter Paul, 1896-1960  Search this
Porter, Eliot, 1901-1990  Search this
Ray, Man, 1890-1976  Search this
Rich, Daniel Catton, 1904-1976  Search this
Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this
Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this
Stamos, Theodoros, 1922-1997  Search this
Stieglitz, Alfred, 1864-1946  Search this
Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this
Tamayo, Rufino, 1899-1991  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Tworkov, Jack  Search this
Weston, Edward, 1886-1958  Search this
Extent:
313 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24
Scope and Contents:
An interview of Katharine Kuh conducted 1982 Mar. 18-1983 Mar. 24, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and His Times oral history project.
Kuh speaks of her childhood in Chicago, the development of her interest in art, classes in art history at Vassar College, and her career as curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago. She recalls in particular the "Sanity in Art" movement against modern art in Chicago. Kuh describes her relationship with Mark Rothko and Rothko's relationships with Mark Tobey, Clyfford Still, Kate Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, Milton Avery, Stanley Kunitz, and Hans Hofmann.
Kuh discusses her parents, the family silk business, travelling in Europe as a child, life in Chicago, the effects of polio and other illnesses on her interests, and her student years at Vassar College. She remembers visiting Bernard Berenson in Italy with her family and again with Daniel Catton Rich, with whom she worked very closely at the Art Institute of Chicago. She speaks of the Katharine Kuh Gallery, which she started in the mid-1930s and its place in the vanguard of the Chicago art scene.
Kuh remembers the effects of the stock market crash on her personal situation, her marriage to businessman George Kuh, distaste for life in the suburbs, and her divorce. She discusses the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the actions taken against her business by members of the reactionary "Sanity in Art" movement (including a very funny anecdote concerning Carlos Merida). She speaks of the classes in modern art that she taught at her gallery and of some of the artists she exhibited there, including the photographers Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston.
Kuh remembers the McCarthy era and the political conservatism in Chicago, including her testimony on behalf of Bill Zimmerman, Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs. She criticizes blockbuster exhibitions and the changes in the role of a museum curator. She reminisces about building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and the art education program she ran there, and recalls Stuart Davis, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Gyorgy Kepes, and Ivan Albright.
Kuh remembers Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Marcel Duchamp, as well as the collectors Walter Paepcke and Walter and Louise Arensberg (whose collection she surveyed in their home for an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago).
Kuh focuses on her memories of Mark Rothko, recalling when they met, their friendship, his manner of working, his feelings about his work, and his worries towards the end of his life. She talks about Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, and Mark Tobey. Some parts of this tape repeat what she said earlier.
Kuh continues discussing Rothko, particularly his Houston chapel murals and the retrospective exhibition at MOMA in 1961. She remembers visiting Rothko's studio and describes his working methods. She relates Rothko's views on other artists, including Milton Avery, Clyfford Still, Turner, Robert Motherwell, and Adolf Gottlieb; parts repeat things said before. Kuh also discusses Rothko's wife and daughter.
Kuh recounts building the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago and speaks of the museum staff, trustees, and donors. She remembers Alfred Barr at MOMA.
Kuh continues speaking about the Art Institute of Chicago, describing the circumstances of her resignation and subsequent move to New York. She talks of knowing Peggy Guggenheim, Max Ernst, and Fernand Leger.
Kuh describes her work as a consultant to college museums and her writings. She discusses the field of art criticism and her career as art editor at Saturday Review. She recalls Clyfford Still's retrospective exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his death.
Kuh describes her work as a collector for the First National Bank of Chicago.
Kuh recounts more about her work at Saturday Review and her resignation. She goes into great detail about her travels in Alaska and British Columbia surveying Northwest Indian art for a government report. She speaks again about the McCarthy era.
Kuh speaks again about the Katharine Kuh Gallery and the artists she exhibited there, including Josef Albers (and his Black Mountain College), Alexander Archipenko, Stuart Davis, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, and Man Ray.
Kuh continues her discussion of artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including Mark Tobey, Paul Klee, and Isamu Noguchi.
Kuh continues talking about artists she exhibited at the Katharine Kuh Gallery, including David Smith, Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Eliot Porter, Rufino Tamayo, and Jack Tworkov.
Biographical / Historical:
Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was an art consultant, curator, and critic from Chicago and New York City.
General:
Originally recorded on 16 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 31 digital wav files. Duration is 21 hrs., 52 min.
Provenance:
This interview was conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and his Times oral history project, with funding provided by the Mark Rothko Foundation.
Others interviewed on the project (by various interviewers) include: Sonia Allen, Sally Avery, Ben-Zion, Bernard Braddon, Ernest Briggs, Rhys Caparn, Elaine de Kooning, Herbert Ferber, Esther Gottlieb, Juliette Hays, Sidney Janis, Buffie Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Louis Kaufman, Jack Kufeld, Stanley Kunitz, Joseph Liss, Dorothy Miller, Betty Parsons, Wallace Putnam, Rebecca Reis, Maurice Roth, Sidney Schectman, Aaron Siskind, Joseph Solman, Hedda Sterne, Jack Tworkov, Esteban Vicente and Ed Weinstein. Each has been cataloged separately.
Restrictions:
Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.
Rights:
Authorization to quote or reproduce for the purposes of publication requires written permission from Avis Berman. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Occupation:
Art critics -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art museum curators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art museum curators -- Illinois -- Chicago  Search this
Topic:
Abstract expressionism  Search this
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.kuh82
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw941cbbacd-01e0-402c-828e-c3909d220c9b
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-kuh82
Online Media:

Avis Berman research material on Katharine Kuh

Creator:
Berman, Avis  Search this
Names:
Arensberg, Walter, 1878-1954  Search this
Dale, Chester, b. 1883  Search this
Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this
Harmon, Lily, 1912-  Search this
Kaufmann, Edgar, 1910-1989  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Lebrun, Rico, 1900-1964  Search this
Neumann, J. B. (Jsrael Ber)  Search this
Rich, Daniel Catton, 1904-1976  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Extent:
3.6 Linear feet
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Interviews
Date:
1939-2006
Summary:
The Avis Berman research material on art dealer and curator Katharine Kuh measures 3.6 linear feet and dates from 1939 to 2006. The materials were compiled by art historian Avis Berman in preparing Katharine Kuh's memoir, which was published posthumously as My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator. The collection includes Katharine Kuh's files; Kuh's drafts, manuscripts and interviews for her memoir; and Avis Berman's files relating to the book's publication, and memorabilia. Series 5 is regarding the reissue of The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Modern Artists by Katharine Kuh, published by De Capo Press. Included are drafts, correspondence, agreements and permissions, reviews, photographs of artwork, and administrative records.
Scope and Content Note:
The Avis Berman research material on art dealer and curator Katharine Kuh measures 3.6 linear feet and dates from 1939 to 2006. The materials were compiled by art historian Avis Berman in preparing Katharine Kuh's memoir, which was published posthumously as My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator. The collection includes Katharine Kuh's files; Kuh's drafts, manuscripts and interviews for her memoir; and Avis Berman's files relating to the book's publication. Also included is memorabilia.

The Katharine Kuh files contain correspondence; exhibition files; writings and notes; and Kuh's interview with Lily Harmon on J. B. Neumann. Correspondents include Walter Arensberg, Marcel Duchamp, and Edgar Kaufmann. Also included is the scattered correspondence of Daniel Catton Rich with Walter Arensberg, Chester Dale, Katharine Kuh, Samuel Marx, and others. Exhibition files pertain to exhibitions curated by Katharine Kuh for the Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection and one-man shows for Rico Lebrun and Mark Tobey, respectively.

Sorting Out and Summing Up: Episodes in An Art Odyssey contains Katharine Kuh's draft versions of book chapters; her manuscripts and interviews; and drafts of chapters that were not incorporated in the published memoir. Also included are manuscripts for the memoir and an annotated version of Avis Berman's interview with Kuh.

The Avis Berman files include correspondence, writings, printed material, clippings, press releases, and miscellaneous printed material. Files document Berman's activities concerning the publication of the memoir.

Memorabilia consists of a monograph and a memorial booklet.

Also included is material regarding the reissue of Kuh's book The Artist's Voice: Talks With Seventeen Modern Artists in 2000. Berman collected the material as the literary executor of Kuh's estate. The files contain agreement and permission paperwork, correspondence, book drafts, and financial records.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 5 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Katharine Kuh Files, 1944-2003 (Box 1; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 2: -- Sorting Out and Summing Up: Episodes in an Art Odyssey -- by Katharine Kuh, 1939-2006 (Boxes 1-3; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Avis Berman Files, 1950s-2006 (Box 3; 0.6 linear feet)

Series 4: Memorabilia, 1976, 1977 (Box 3; 0.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Files Regarding -- The Artist's Voice: Talks With Seventeen Modern Artists -- Reissue (Boxes 4-5, 0.5 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Writer and art historian, Avis Berman lives and works in New York City. Berman was a close friend of Katharine Kuh's and is Kuh's literary executor. Berman compiled Katharine Kuh's research materials for the memoir that she was working on at the time of her death; the book was subsequently published as My Love Affair with Modern Art: Behind the Scenes with a Legendary Curator in 2006.

Katharine Kuh (1904-1994) was a curator and art dealer born in St. Louis, Missouri. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College in 1925, where she studied art history under Alfred Barr. In 1928, she earned her Master's in Art History at the University of Chicago. As a graduate student, Kuh developed an interest in modern art, particularly the work of European artists.

Kuh married George Kuh, a businessman in 1930. She and Kuh divorced six years later.

In 1935, she established the Katharine Kuh Gallery in Chicago. The gallery was dedicated to featuring the works of contemporary European and American painters and sculptors, such as Alexander Archipenko, Alexei Jawlensky, Wassily Kandinsky, Gyorgy Kepes, Paul Klee, Gaston Lachaise, Fernand Léger, Carlos Mérida, Joan Miro, Lazlo Moholy-Nagy, Pablo Picasso, as well as Charles Biederman, Alexander Calder, Stuart Davis, and Isamu Noguchi, among others. The Katharine Kuh Gallery was one of the first galleries in Chicago to show photography as art. Kuh held exhibitions for Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Edward Weston, and she also showed the photographs of Gyorgy Kepes and Man Ray.

At the gallery, Kuh taught classes on an informal basis to individuals interested in modern art. During this period, she spent her summers as a Visiting Professor of Art History at the University School of Fine Arts of San Miguel in Guanajuarto, Mexico (1938-1940). With the onset of America's involvement in World War II, Kuh realized that the war would curtail her contact with many of the European artists whose works she had promoted and in 1942, she decided to close the gallery.

In 1943, Katharine Kuh took a position in the public relations department at the Art Institute of Chicago. The following year, Kuh was asked to take over the Gallery of Art Interpretation at the Art Institute. Later she was appointed the Curator of Painting and Sculpture; in this role, she developed a close collaborative relationship with the Director of the Art Institute, Daniel Catton Rich. From 1946-1953, she served as the Editor of the Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly.

She left the Art Institute in 1959 and settled in New York City. She served as an art editor at the Saturday Review and World Magazine. She was also an art consultant for the First National Bank of Chicago from 1968-1979.

Katharine Kuh traveled extensively and often wrote about the art of the places she visited such as Sicily, Turkey, and the Yucatan. In the 1940s Kuh developed an interest in the wood carvings of the Indian tribes in the Pacific Northwest. The University of Alaska awarderd her an honorary doctorate for her efforts to preserve the indigenous artwork of the region's Native Americans.

Her publications on twentieth-century art included: Art Has Many Faces (1951), The Artist's Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists (1962), Break-up: The Core of Modern Art (1965), and The Open Eye: In Pursuit of Art (1971). Kuh also wrote the catalog that accompanied the "Fernand Léger Retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago" (1953). At the time of her death, Katharine Kuh had completed a final draft of her memoir, which she had tentatively titled, Sorting Out and Summing Up: Episodes in an Art Odyssey.

In 1994, Katharine Kuh died in New York City.
Related Material:
The Archives of American Art holds the Katharine Kuh papers, 1908-1994. Also found in the Archives of American Art is an oral history interview with Katharine Kuh conducted by Avis Berman, March 18, 1982-March 23, 1983. Additional Katharine Kuh material is located at the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Provenance:
The Avis Berman Research Material, 1939-2006 was donated to the Archives of American Art by Avis Berman, an art historian and literary executor of Katharine Kuh's estate in 2007 and in 2021.
Restrictions:
This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.
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 donor has retained all intellectual property rights, including copyright, that they may own in the following material: all writings by Avis Berman.
Occupation:
Art historians -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Art critics -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Authors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this
Topic:
Women art historians  Search this
Women authors  Search this
Art, Modern  Search this
Genre/Form:
Interviews
Citation:
Avis Berman research material on Katharine Kuh, 1939-2006. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Identifier:
AAA.bermavis3
See more items in:
Avis Berman research material on Katharine Kuh
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9cf5807a5-9d5f-4b50-b89f-ff5896361775
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-bermavis3

Photograph of Katharine Kuh and artists in San Miguel

Subject:
Archipenko, Angelica  Search this
Chavez Morado, José  Search this
Grabe, Klaus  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
O'Higgins, Pablo  Search this
Worley, Charles  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Date:
1939 August
Citation:
Photograph of Katharine Kuh and artists in San Miguel, 1939 August. Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Artists in groups  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA)12336
See more items in:
Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk 1930-1994
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_item_12336
Online Media:

Photgraph of Katharine Kuh and artists in San Miguel, Mexico

Subject:
Archipenko, Angelica  Search this
Chavez Morado, José  Search this
Grabe, Klaus  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
O'Higgins, Pablo  Search this
Worley, Charles  Search this
Type:
Photographs
Date:
1939 August
Citation:
Photgraph of Katharine Kuh and artists in San Miguel, Mexico, 1939 August. Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Artists in groups  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA)12337
See more items in:
Katharine Kuh papers, 1875-1994, bulk 1930-1994
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_item_12337
Online Media:

Chicago avant-garde five women ahead of their time Liesl Olson ; with poems by Eve L. Ewing ; edited by Susan F. Rossen

Author:
Olson, Liesl  Search this
Author:
Ewing, Eve L  Search this
Editor:
Rossen, Susan F.,  Search this
Writer of foreword:
Greene, Daniel 1973-  Search this
Publisher:
Newberry Library  Search this
Physical description:
118 pages, 8 unnumbered pages illustrations (some color), map 28 cm
Type:
Exhibitions
Exhibition catalogs
Place:
Illinois
Chicago
Date:
2021
Topic:
Women and the arts  Search this
Avant-garde (Aesthetics)  Search this
Arts et femmes  Search this
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_1154146

Robert Jay Wolff papers, 1926-1969

Creator:
Wolff, Robert Jay, 1905-1978  Search this
Subject:
Miller, Dorothy Canning  Search this
Cahill, Holger  Search this
Robinson, Increase  Search this
Calder, Alexander  Search this
Chermayeff, Serge  Search this
Crawford, M. D. C. (Morris De Camp)  Search this
Ernst, Jimmy  Search this
Giedion, S. (Sigfried)  Search this
Holty, Carl  Search this
Holtzman, Harry  Search this
Hustvedt, Stephen R.  Search this
Kuh, Katharine  Search this
Moholy-Nagy, László  Search this
Moholy-Nagy, Sibyl  Search this
Osborn, Robert Chesley  Search this
Pearlstein, Philip  Search this
Rebay, Hilla  Search this
Reinhardt, Ad  Search this
Seligmann, Kurt  Search this
Gropius, Walter  Search this
Artists' Union (Chicago, Ill.)  Search this
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum  Search this
Citation:
Robert Jay Wolff papers, 1926-1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painting, American  Search this
Design  Search this
Theme:
Architecture & Design  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)9360
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211556
AAA_collcode_wolfrobe
Theme:
Architecture & Design
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211556

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