The Smithsonian Institution

The Oral History ProgramAuthor(s): Paul CummingsSource: Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 17, No. 2 (1977), p. 21Published by: The Smithsonian InstitutionStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1557181 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 19:37

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The Smithsonian Institution is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archives ofAmerican Art Journal.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.199 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 19:37:06 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

The Curator's

Report Arthur Breton

During the period April through June 1977, papers or microfilms of the follow- ing persons or organizations were re- ceived in the Washington office of the Archives. This list includes both gifts and loans. Florence Arnold Carl Ashby Jozef G. Bakos Burt Barnes Harold Baumbach Margit Beck Max Beckmann Thomas Hart Benton Edward Biberman Harry Bowden Berta N. Briggs Robert Bushnell Victor Candell Michael Church Max Arthur Cohn Dorothy Bushnell Cole Don David Annita Delano Moya del Pino Marion de Sola Mendes Arthur Dow William Draper Emma Ehrenreich Ken Friedman Eugenie Gershoy Andree Golbin Frank Greco Horatio and Henry Greenough Eric Gugler Emily Nichols Hatch Henry Hensche Serge Hollerback

Gerrit Hondius Isabella Howland Irving & Casson Haydon Jones Ethel Katz Greta Kempton Gyorgy Kepes William King Joseph Kiselewski Isidore Konti Joseph Konzal Peter Krasnow Harvey Littleton Ernest and Harriet Longfellow Erle Loran Louis Lozowick Russell Lynes Francis McComas Marcia Marcus Kyra Markham Gladys Mock Elisabeth Model Henry Mosler Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Elias Newman Violet Oakley Abbo Ostrowsky Maxfield Parrish Dorothy Pere Irene Rice Pereira Abraham Rattner Edna Reindell T. H. Robsjohn-Gibbings Martin Rosenthal Paul Sample Emilio Sanchez Constance Scharff Myma Shiras Harry Shoulberg Salvatore Sirugo Eloise Spaeth Eugene Spiro Robert Steed Ladislaw Sutnar Byron Thomas Horacio Torres Joaquin Torres-Garcia Paul Travis Waddell Gallery Anna Walinska Rosa Newman Walinska Marion Walton Olin L. Warner Erika Weihs Florence Weinstein Cady Wells John Wenger Harold Weston Marguerite Wildenhain Howard Willard WPA-Historical Portrait Survey,

New England

During the period April through June 1977, microfilms of papers of the follow- ing persons or organizations were dis- tributed to all branch offices of the Archives. Denis M. Bunker Florence and Konrad Cramer James Budd Dixon John Joseph Earley Carl Gutherz

Violet Oakley Paul Sample Horatio W. Shaw Moses Soyer Spaeth Foundation Byron Thomas WPA Photograph Collection

21

Since fellowship funds are very lim- ited, the National Collection of Fine Arts also offers a few appointments without financial support to scholars who receive desk space and are allowed access to the same resources and personnel as are re- cipients of stipends.

In selecting individuals for partici- pation in academic programs, the Smith- sonian Institution does not discriminate on grounds of race, creed, color, sex, age, or national origin of any applicant. For more information and application forms write: Office of Academic Studies, Smithsonian Institution, SI 356, Wash- ington, D. C. 20560.

Please indicate the particular area in which you propose to conduct research and give the dates of degrees received or expected.

The Oral

History Program Paul Cummings Three interviews were completed during the second quarter of 1977. Irving Blum, an art dealer in Los Angeles during the 1960s and currently in New York, talked about his association with the Ferus Gal- lery and art life in California. During his nearly fifteen years in Los Angeles he was associated with many emerging artists, exhibited their works, and as- sisted Walter Hopps in a series of private lectures aimed at developing major col- lectors of American art. The success of these lectures is apparent in that most of the Southemrn Califomrnia collectors at one time or another attended them. In 1962, Blum gave Andy Warhol his first exhi- bition of the Campbell soup can paint- ings, thus causing a major shift in the direction of his gallery from showing West Coast artists to showing those from the East. Blum's comments on the cultural life of Southern California are vivid, as are his reasons for moving to New York City.

Scholar, writer, curator, and mu- seum director Andrew C. Ritchie dis- cussed his years as a lecturer at the Frick Collection, director of the Albright Art Gallery, director of painting and sculp- ture at the Museum of Modem Art through the 1950s, and, recently, as di- rector of the Yale University Art Gallery. Of special interest is his shift from English art to a proselytizing espousal of some of the most vanguard art of the 1950s. The interview reflects the intel- lectual ferment of those years, rather than its social activities.

A short conversation with Marie Appleton, who spent forty years with the Whitney Museum of American Art, was recorded in June. Eugene Speicher, Emma Bellows, Edward Hopper, and Lloyd Goodrich were special friends of hers. A nonagenarian, her memories are mostly of the good times rather than of any conflicts that might have occurred. The museum world of those days seems to have been relaxed and friendly.

This content downloaded from 195.78.108.199 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 19:37:06 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions