Collection Information
Size: 3.2 Linear feet
Summary: The papers of artist and educator Ben Cunningham measure 2.3 linear feet and date from 1904 to 1989 with the bulk of the material dating from 1930 to 1975. The collection documents his career through professional and personal papers, writings, printed materials, artwork, and photographic materials.
Biographical/Historical Note
Ben Cunningham (1904-1975) was an artist and educator who worked in San Francisco and New York. He was from Nevada and initially attended the University of Nevada to study architecture. After a year, he moved to California to attend the San Francisco Art Institute. His first one-man show was at the Beaux Arts Gallery in San Francisco in 1931, and for the next decade exhibited in solo and group shows. While in San Francisco, Cunningham also worked as a muralist and was a supervisor of mural paintings under the Federal Art Project. Cunningham moved to New York City in 1944 where he continued his work as an artist, and began teaching at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts, Cooper Union, Pratt Institute, and the Art Students' League of New York. He conducted the summer workshop in advanced painting at the University of Minnesota at Duluth. His artwork can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Forth Worth Art Museum, the Birla Academy of Art and Culture in Kolkata, India, and private collections.
Provenance
Donated 1972-1989 by the estate of Patsy and Ben Cunningham.
Related Materials
Syracuse University Libraries also holds papers of Ben Cunningham.
Language Note
English .
Funding Note
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
Image assets for this folder have not been fully processed.
We apologize for any inconvenience.
