Brooklyn Museum interviews of artists, [ca. 1965-1968]

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A Finding Aid to the Brooklyn Museum Interviews of Artists, 1965-1968, in the Archives of American Art, by Megan McShea

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Table of Contents:

• Historical Note
• Overview of the Collection
• How to Use the Collection
• Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Historical Information

The interview program at the Brooklyn Museum was begun by Arlene Jacobowitz in the spring of 1965 with artists whose works were on exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. In 1968, excerpts from the interviews were incorporated into an exhibition entitled "Listening to Pictures," in which visitors could access the sound recordings using headphones while standing before the painting being discussed. The exhibition opened April 28, 1968, and was gradually disassembled, 1971-1973.

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Overview of the Collection

Scope and Contents

Interviews of 72 artists, and transcripts for all but five, conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz, the Associate Curator for the Department of Painting and Sculpture, between 1965 and 1968. The artists discuss their work in the museum collection. Also included are 38 edited excerpts of the interviews, approximately 2-3 min. in length, used as "audio-labels" in the 1968 "Listening to Pictures" installation.

The artists interviewed are: Lennart Anderson, Stephen B. Antonakos, Marshall Arisman, Walter Barker, Leonard Baskin, Mary Bauermeister, Thomas Hart Benton, Isabel Bishop, Robert Brackman, Sydney Butchkes, Edmund Casarella, George Constant, Robert Warren Dash, Jose DeCreeft, Blanche Dombek, Tom Doyle, Jimmy Ernst, Neil Estern, Philip Evergood, Helen Frankenthaler, Jane Freilicher, Leon Goldin, Sidney Goodman, Sante Graziani, Balcomb Greene, John Grillo, William Gropper, Chaim Gross, Roy Gussow, Robert Gwathmey, Grace Hartigan, Edward Hopper, Nora Jaffe, Paul Jenkins, Minoru Kawabata, William Kienbusch, Karl Knaths, John Koch, Yayoi Kosama, Jennett Lam, Steven Lang, Robert Laurent, Jacob Lawrence, Jack Levine, Jacques Lipchitz, Seymour Lipton, Boris Margo, Ursula Meyer, Hans Moller, Walter Murch, Louise Nevelson, Toshio Odate, Elliot Offner, Douglas Ohlson, Kenzo Okada, Amanda Palmer, Irene Rice Pereira, Gabor Peterdi, Ad Reinhardt, Bill Richards, Larry Rivers, Emilio Sanchez, Karl Schrag, Ben Shahn, Charles Sheeler, Aaron Sopher, Moses Soyer, Raphael Soyer, William Thon, Albert Weinberg, and William and Marguerite Zorach.

Arrangement and Series Description

The collection is arranged as a single series:

• Series 1: Interviews, 1965-1968 (Box 1-7; 7 lin. ft.)

Subjects and Names

Provenance

This collection was donated to the Archives of American Art by Dierdre Lawrence of the Brooklyn Museum in 1989.

Separated and Related Materials

The Brooklyn Museum Archives houses the records of the Departments of European Painting and Sculpture, American Painting and Sculpture, Contemporary Art (1897-2005), which contain records relating to the work of Arlene Jacobowitz.

How the Collection was Processed

The sound recordings in this collection were preserved in digital format in 2009, at which time the metal cans in which the reels had been housed were discarded and replaced with archival plastic cans. The entire collection was re-housed, arranged, and described in 2010 by Megan McShea.

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Use of original papers requires an appointment. Researchers may view the original reels for the archival notations on them, but original reels are not available for playback due to fragility.

Ownership & Literary Rights

Authorization to quote or reproduce for purposes of publication requires written permission from the interviewee.

Available Formats

All of the sound recordings in this collection were digitized for preservation and research access in 2009 and are available at the Archives of American Art offices.

Location of Originals

Almost all of the transcripts in this collection are photocopies. Original transcripts can be found in the Brooklyn Museum Libraries and Archives.

How to Cite this Collection

Interview between [artist's name] and [interviewer's name] from the "Listening to Pictures" program of the Brooklyn Museum. Gift of the Brooklyn Museum. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

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Detailed Description and Container Inventory

Series 1: Interviews, 1965-1968 (Box 1-7; 7 linear feet)

This series contains interviews of 72 artists on 157 sound tape reels (1/4 in. tape). Jack Levine and John Koch were interviewed twice, so the collection contains 74 interviews total. Also found are brief excerpts of the interviews on 38 sound tape reels, made for the exhibition, "Listening to Pictures," an acoustiguide for a Walter Murch Retrospective exhibition on one sound tape reel, and a monologue by Elbert Weinberg on his painting, "Temptation of Eve" on one sound cassette. All interviews were conducted by Arlene Jacobowitz, Assistant Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum. Most of the interviews were recorded on one to three half-hour reels, except for the Ad Reinhardt and Walter Murch interviews, which are longer. Excerpts are typically between 2 and 3 minutes long. The interviews focus primarily on works by the artist that are in the museum's collection.

As noted in the box inventory below, transcripts are available for all but five interviews, as well as for the Murch acoustiguide and the Weinberg monologue. The interviews without transcripts include that of Stephen Antonakos, Jane Freilicher, Seymour Lipton, Walter Murch, and Elbert Weinberg. The Edward Hopper interview has a transcript only, and no original sound recording or excerpt.

Interviews, transcripts, excerpts, and other recordings are arranged alphabetically by interviewee.

All of the sound recordings have been digitized for preservation and research access.