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About the Leon Berkowitz and Ida Fox Berkowitz papers

A Finding Aid to the Leon Berkowitz and Ida Fox Berkowitz Papers, circa 1900-1986, in the Archives of American Art, by Rebecca Williams (Download PDF Version, 81 KB )

Biographical Information | Description of the Collection | How to Use the Collection | Series Descriptions

Biographical Information [+]

Leon Berkowitz (1911-1987), a painter associated with the Washington Color School, was born in Philadelphia (the 1919 birth date given by Berkowitz in Who's Who in American Art is incorrect). He met and married his first wife, Ida Fox, between 1935 and 1937. Berkowitz received a B.F.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942 and an M.A. from George Washington University in 1948. READ MORE

From 1943 to 1945, he served as a private in the U.S. Army, participating in a psychiatric program involving art therapy at Camp Lee, Virginia. Berkowitz taught art at Eastern and Western high schools in Washington, D.C. from 1945 to 1956 and taught at Western again in the late 1960s. In 1969 Berkowitz became chairman of the Corcoran School of Art's painting department and taught there until his death.

In 1945, the Berkowitzes founded the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts with Helmuth Kern. The Center, an important part of the city's cultural life during the 1940s and 1950s, offered courses in art, music, theatre and dance. Many of the artists who later became prominent in the Washington Color School taught at the center, including Morris Louis, Ken Noland, Gene Davis, Jacob Kainen and Jack Perlmutter. The center also sponsored a retrospective for Willem de Kooning in 1953. The Berkowitzes and Kern were also active in establishing the shortlived (1949-1953) cooperative radio station WCFM.

The center collapsed in 1956, shortly after the Berkowitzes' departure on a sabbatical painting trip to Spain. They spent much of the next decade abroad, including a two-and-a half year stay in Wales and a visit of several months to Jerusalem. During this period, Berkowitz expanded his interest in light, creating paintings by priming canvases with a white ground, then using multiple layers of thin oil paint washes.

Berkowitz had his first one-man museum show at the Corcoran in 1966. Ida Fox died during the 1970s and Berkowitz then married his second wife, Maureen. He continued to paint and exhibit until his death from cancer in 1987.

Poet Ida Fox (1913-197?) was born in Philadelphia. She married Leon Berkowitz between 1934 and 1937 and moved with him to Washington, D.C. where she attended American University from 1942 to 1945. During World War II she worked as a statistician for the U.S. government. In 1945 she cofounded the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts. Fox became its director in 1947, resigning the position in 1955 to accompany her husband to Spain. She published poetry in several literary and artistic periodicals, including a series, Painting Thru a Poet's Eye, inspired by works of art. In 1970 she published a collection of poetry, In the Wind: An American Poet in Wales (St. David's, Wales: Antiphon Press, 1970), illustrated by Arthur Okamura. HIDE

Box
1		Address Book, undated
1		Biographical Material, 1934-circa 1974, undated (2 folders)

Box
1		Correspondence, undated
1		Correspondence, Incoming, undated
1		Correspondence, Outgoing, undated
1		Correspondence, 1931-1954 (14 folders)

Box
2		Correspondence, 1955-1985 (9 folders)
2		Postcards, 1950-1974, undated

Box
2		Clippings, circa 1950s
2		Correspondence, 1939-1950s, 1985-1986, undated
2		Lecture Notes, undated
2		Student Art Tours, undated

Box
MMs		Printed Material (microfilmed on reel 2786), 1953-1978, undated

Box
2		Catalogs and Announcements, 1950-1976, undated (2 folders)
2		Clippings, 1956-1973, undated
2		Drafts of Corcoran Exhibition Catalog, 1968-1969
2		Gallery Receipts, 1950-1985 (2 folders)
2		Inventory of Paintings, circa 1976-1977
2		Other Artists, Catalogs and Announcements, 1944-1985, undated (2 folders)

Box
1		Announcements, Brochures and Catalogs, 1940s-1950s (2 folders)
1		Clippings, 1940s-1950s
1		Correspondence, 1943-1956, undated (10 folders)
1		Draft of Radio Script, circa 1940-1950

Box
3		Art Therapy Project, U.S. Army, 1944-1945
3		Jury Judging, 1983-1985
3		WCFM Radio Station, 1949-1953
3		Washington Arts Council, 1947-1954

Box
3		Essay, "Art in the Extra-Curriculum," undated
3		Essay, "The Job of the Art Supervisor," undated
3		Master's Thesis, "Factors Significant in the Success of a Creative Arts Center," 1948
3		Notes, undated
3		Notes, Art and Society (course), 1942
3		Notes, Draft of "Wind Among the Leaves," undated
3		Notes, On Paintings, 1940s, 1968-1971
3		Poems, Ida Fox Berkowitz, undated

Box
3		Loose Sketches, undated
3		Reproductions of Artwork, undated
3		Sketchbooks, undated (11 sketchbooks in 2 folders)
3		Woodblock Print, Arthur Okamura, circa 1950s

Box
3		Audio Cassette of Taped Conversations, 1974, undated

Box
3		Photographs and Negatives, circa 1900-1970s (3 folders)
3		Photographs of Paintings, circa 1950s-1970s
3		Photographs of Washington Workshop Center for the Arts, circa 1950s

About the Leon Berkowitz and Ida Fox Berkowitz papers

A Finding Aid to the Leon Berkowitz and Ida Fox Berkowitz Papers, circa 1900-1986, in the Archives of American Art, by Rebecca Williams (Download PDF Version, 81 KB )

Biographical Information [+]

Description of the Collection

Overview - Scope and Contents [+]

Arrangement and Series Description

Subjects

Provenance

How the Collection was Processed

How to Use the Collection

Restrictions on Use

Available Formats

Related Collections

How to Cite this Collection

Series Descriptions

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1934-circa 1974, undated (box 1, 3 folders)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1931-1985, undated (boxes 1-2, 27 folders)

Series 3: Teaching, 1939-1950s, 1985-1986, undated (box 2, 4 folders)

Series 4: Exhibitions, 1944-1985, undated (box 2, MMs, 10 folders)

Series 5: Washington Workshop Center for the Arts, 1940s-1950s (box 2, 14 folders)

Series 6: Other Projects, 1944-1985 (box 3, 4 folders)

Series 7: Notes and Writings, 1940s-1971, undated (box 3, 8 folders)

Series 8: Artwork, circa 1950s, undated (box 3, 5 folders)

Series 9: Photographs, circa 1900-1970s (box 3, 5 folders)

Series 10: Audio Cassette, [1974?] (box 3, 1 folder)