Collection Information

Size: Transcript 7 p.

Format: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 41 min.

Summary: An interview of Fletcher Martin conducted 1964 Nov. 19, by Joseph S. Trovato, for the Archives of American Art.

Martin speaks of his family background and self-taught art education; meeting David A. Siqueiros and painting a mural with him; becoming established as an artist and having his first exhibits; working on the Federal Art Project (FAP) as a fresco painter; working on post office murals and relief sculptures; and his overall view of the Federal Art Project.

Biographical/Historical Note

Fletcher Martin (1904-1979) was a printmaker, painter, and mural painter from Sarasota, Fla. and Guanajuato, Mexico.

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.

Transcript: use requires an appointment.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Fletcher Martin, 1964 Nov. 19. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.