Collection Information

Size: Sound recording: 1 sound tape reel ; 5 in.

Transcript: 18 p.

Summary: An interview of Alfred Victor Frankenstein conducted 1965 Nov. 9, by Mary McChesney, for the Archives of American Art's New Deal and the Arts Oral History Project.

Frankenstein speaks of the WPA mural project and its value; problems with the project; Hans Hofmann's influence; the influence of surrealism; the Coit Tower murals and the controversy surrounding them; the easel painting project and its value; political problems with the Federal Art Project; the project's relevance to current problems; art in architecture; the Index of American Design. He recalls Beniamino Bufano.

Biographical/Historical Note

Alfred Victor Frankenstein (1906-1981) was an art historian from San Francisco, Calif.

Provenance

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.

Funding

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Transcript: microfilm reel 3949 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Alfred Victor Frankenstein, 1965 Nov. 9. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.