the oral history program

The Smithsonian Institution

The Oral History ProgramAuthor(s): Paul CummingsSource: Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2 (1975), pp. 21-22Published by: The Smithsonian InstitutionStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1556939 .

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21

The Curator's

Report Arthur Breton

During the period April through June 1975, papers or microfilm of the follow- ing persons or organizations were received in the Washington office of the Archives. This list includes both gifts and loans.

Myer Abel John Ottis Adams Elise Asher Rudolf Baranick Beachcomber Club Gerrit Beneker Martin Birnbaum Isabel Bishop Karl Bitter Nell Blaine Boston Museum of Fine Arts Paul Bransom William Burchfield Paul Burlin Charles H. Caffin Harry Callahan Robert B. Campbell Rhys Capamrn Bruce Conner Rupert Conrad Imogene Cunningham John Steuart Curry Jay De Feo Jean Kellogg Dickie Arthur Dove Downtown Gallery Michael Engel Ralph Fabri Oronzo Gasparo Jan Gelb Eugenie Gershoy Margarita Gibbons Leah Gold Morris Graves Chaim Gross Handy & Harman Kenneth Hari John Davis Hatch Rene d'Hamrnoncourt Abraham Harriton Wally Hedrick Robert Henri Margo Hoff Gerrit Hondius Charles Hosmer J. L. Hudson Gallery Leroy Ireland Katharine Gauss Jackson Sidney Janis Maxim Karolik Bruce Anthony King Chet Lamore Edward Landon Bernard Langlais Carl Lieber

Charles Waldo Love Lilian MacKendrick Moissaye Marans Irving Marantz Marcia Marcus Philip Martiny Metropolitan Museum of Art Walter Midener William Milliken Roy Neuberger Louise Nevelson Gordon Onslow-Ford Lois Orswell Frederick Papsdorf Philip Pearlstein Mabel Pugh Vollian Burr Rann Helen AppletonRead MacIvor Reddie Fred Reichman Alvin Ross Irving Sandler Madeleine Sharrer Jacob Getlar Smith William Sommer May Stevens Otto Stark Theodore Steele Hugh Stix Barbara Swan Richard Thomas Daniel Varney Thompson, Jr. George Tooker Ninfa Valvo F. Ambrose Webster Emil Weddige Katharine Lane Weems John F. Weir Robert W. Weir William T. Wiley Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors Margret Carver Withers

During the period April through June 1975, microfilms of papers of the follow- ing persons or organizations were dis- tributed to all branch offices of the Archives. Josef Albers Peggy Bacon William Benton George Biddle Boston Museum of Fine Arts Theodor Braasch Alfred Thompson Bricher Robert Broner William T. Brown Alice Chittenden Bruce Conner Carl Gordon Cutler Jay De Feo Valentine Dudensing Frank Duveneck Carl C. W. Gallwitz Rene Gimpel William Glackens Morris Graves Chaim Gross Wally Hedrick

Robert Henri Robert Knipschild Walt Kuhn MUSE: The Bedford Lincoln

Neighborhood Museum Robert Osbom Georgia O'Keeffe Provincetown Art Association Public Works of Art Project, Michigan Margaret Redmond Fred Reichman Dwight Sturges Ivan Swift Daniel Varney Thompson, Jr. Stuyvesant Van Veen Janet Waring Esther Williams

The Oral

History Program Paul Cummings

The oral history program moves along with quickened pace during the winter season. This quarter saw the completion of a series of interviews with James Flexner. In these final reels, Flexner comments on the revisions of his books and the lack of new scholarship in the area of 17th- through 19th-century art history since they were first written, some three decades ago. John Coplans, cofounder and current editor of Artforum, was interviewed about his career as a painter, the founding of the magazine, his association with the Pasadena Museum of Art and with various universities in California, as well as his authorship of numerous monographs on contemporary American artists. His connection with the Pop artists and several West Coast figures is well documented in his com- mentary, as are his ideas on critics and the changing scene of art writing. Roy Moyer, a past director of the American Federation of Arts, tells of his academic background, painting career, and organi- zational interests, and offers considera- ble insight into the history of the A.F.A. In describing his association with that organization, he suggests that administra- tors should change frequently to allow the organization to keep up with the times. Three dealers, Virginia Zabriskie, Mrs. Hans Schaeffer, and Julien Levy, were interviewed during this period. Mrs. Zabriskie details the development of her interest in art, which led to the founding of her gallery. It was her interest in sculpture and in the revival of modem artists active in the early decades of this century that prompted a recon-



22

sideration of their reputations and place in art history that formed the focal point of the gallery. Mrs. Schaeffer describes the life she and her late husband led in Europe, their journey to the United States, and their dealings in primarily European master works and drawings. Her comments on shifts in taste and the placement of works in many museum collections, as well as her observations on some major collectors are enlighten- ing. We began an interview with Julien Levy that is planned to continue later in the year. In this first session he re- counts the development of his interest in surrealism, his travels in Europe, and discusses artists he met and the opening of his gallery in New York City. The interview with Elayne Varian, re- cent director of the Finch College Mu- seum Modem Wing, was completed during this time.

Two artists, Sue Fuller and Stephen Antonakos, were interviewed. Miss Fuller describes her life as an art student and later as a teacher. Her ideas on teach- ing are instructive as are her comments on being both a woman and an artist. Antonakos outlines his education, his years as a successful commercial artist, his transition to a fine artist, and discusses as well his collages, paintings, and early use of neon.

Regional Office

Reports

Boston

Robert F. Brown

During the second quarter of 1975, the Archives' New England office acquired substantial and diverse collections.

Edward A. Landon, a pioneer in both America and Europe in adapting silk- screen printing to a fine art, has given the Archives material relating to the National Seriograph Quarterly, which he helped to found. In addition, there are numerous notices of WPA regional ex- hibitions and records of the Artists' Congress, of which Landon was an or- ganizer in the late 1930s. An interview with the artist probes the aims and ac- complishments of both his organiza- tional involvements and his private career.

The office received the voluminous personal records of one sculptor, Lilly

Crow Island School, Winnetka, Illinois, 1941. Eero Saarinen, architect. Lily Swann Saarinen, sculptor. Lily Swann Saarinen Papers.

Swann Saarinen, and a dealer's file on another, Charles Cutler. Mrs. Saarinen's reputation rests on her expressionistic ceramic sculpture of animals. A large number of working drawings for these ceramics began with a series of com- missions undertaken in collaboration with her architect husband, Eero Saar- inen. Cutler, the son of a prominent Boston painter, specialized in carved stone figures reminiscent of John Flana- gan's. Cutler's career at the Skowhegan School in Maine and at the Art Academy in Cincinnati is amply documented by photographs and printed notices.

Joseph Gropper, an artist who had become an art dealer by the time he finished his education, has donated a selection of his business records to the Archives. His specialization has been German Expressionism, and among his papers is correspondence with Erich Heckel, a close friend of Gropper's during the artist's last years.

The papers of two Boston art critics acquired during this period broaden our understanding of Boston attitudes toward art during the middle half of this century. The records of Sidney Wood- ward, an art critic for several Boston papers, an actor, gallery manager, and antique dealer as well, chronicle the Boston esthetic through photographs, clippings of reviews, notes for lectures, and a lifelong correspondence with his twin brother, seascapist Stanley Wood- ward. William Germain Dooley, a critic for several local newspapers and an

occasional contributor to the Saturday Review from the early 1930s, kept all the drafts of his writings, the photographs, and research files essential to his profession. These documents and the records kept during his tenure (1941- 1961) as Director of Education at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, provide a rich and balanced source for regional art history.

In April 1975, the Archives received the transcripts of forty-nine taped interviews with prominent historic preserva- tionists. Conducted between 1969 and 1974 by Professor Charles Hosmer of Principia College, a historian of Ameri- can preservationism, these interviews capture some of the history and describe many of the diverse attitudes toward this activity.

A small exhibition of original documents related to American architecture was held at the Archives' Boston office also in April, coinciding with the annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians. Drawn from the Archives' manuscript collections of painters, sculptors, and architects, the exhibit demonstrated the concept of collaboration of the three arts (more frequent in the past than now) and its results.

A talk by the Boston area director at the Society's meeting emphasized the Archives' interest in the preservation of architectural records and indicated the difficulties involved in their collection due to the sheer bulk of material.



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