Oral history interview with Merle Armitage, 1964 Feb. 6
Armitage, Merle,
b. 1893
d. 1975
Arts administrator, Designer, Draftsman (artist)
Santa Fe, N.M.
Size:
Sound recordings: 1 sound tape reel ; 7 in.
Transcript: 28 p. (on one microfilm reel)
Collection Summary: An interview of Merle Armitage conducted1964 Feb. 6, by Sylvia Loomis, for the Archives of American Art.
Armitage speaks of his role as Public Works of Art Project regional chairman of Southern California, including his supervision of 126 artists involved in painting, drawing, sculpture, lithography and mural projects; experimental work in PWAP easel painting projects; censorship of subject matter in a mural for the Frank Wiggins Trade School; his opposition to government subsidized art programs; his impressions of Edward Bruce, Dalzell Hatfield, James Milford Zornes, and others associated with the PWAP. Armitage also speaks of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and contemporary book design.
Biographical/Historical Note: Merle Armitage, b. 1893; d. 1975, Art administrator, graphic artist of Santa Fe, N.M.
This interview conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts project, which includes over 400 interviews of artists, administrators, historians, and others involved with the federal government's art programs and the activities of the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and early 1940s.
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