WHITNEY HALSTEAD (1926-1979) received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He taught art history at several Chicago-area schools, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he developed courses on Dada, Surrealism, and various tribal artistic traditions. He was an early authority an Outsider art. His collage book dated April 1, 1949 (perhaps a reference to April Fool's Day), reveals his free association with images, words, and applied paint.
Whitney Halstead Collage Book,Ovation for Whitney B. Halstead: Fifty Years a Painter, The Thing Complete in this Issue,8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in., ink, gouache and collage. Whitney Halstead Papers, Archives of American Art.
Description of Whitney Halstead's Papers |
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| CREATOR: | Halstead, Whitney B., 1926-1979. |
| TITLE: | Whitney B. Halstead papers, 1920-1982. |
| PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: | 8.0 linear ft. |
| BIO/HISTORICAL NOTE: | Teacher,critic, scholar, artist. Received his B.F.A and M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Taught art history at several Chicago-area schools, including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he developed a series of courses on primitive art. Wrote critical reviews for Artforum and the Chicago Daily News, as well as numerous articles about local and primitive art. Curated several exhibitions, including Made in Chicago. Worked in a variety of media. Specialized in dada and surrealism. |
| SUMMARY: | The papers document Halstead's teaching career, scholarship, and artistic efforts, as well as provide information about art in Chicago from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s. The collection includes diaries, correspondence, notes, drafts of written work, published pieces, bibliographies, newspaper clippings, exhibition catalogs, printed materials, scrapbooks, photographs, slides, sketches, sketchbooks, collage books, and prints. Also included are records from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Information is provided about a number of artists, including Roger Brown, Edward Paschke, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Kerig Pope, Christina Ramberg, Barbara Rossi, Pauline Simon, Karl Wirsum, and Joseph Elmer Yoakum. There are also photographs of the work of sculptors Al Boutin, Christo, John Raymond Henry, David Reif, and Marguerite Weber. Finally, the collection includes photographs by Jerome Aronson, Kenneth Josephson, Ceil London, Tom Palazzolo, and Charles Reynolds. |
| RESTRICTIONS: | Unmicrofilmed: use requires an appointment, and is limited to Washington, D.C. storage facility. |
| PROVENANCE: | The donor, Theodore Halkin, is the executor of Whitney Halstead's estate.Other papers are at the Art Institute of Chicago, Department of Prints and Drawings. |
| FINDING AIDS: | Finding aid is available in AAA office. |
