Collection Information
Size: 4 Cassettes, Sound recording: (5 hrs. 20 min.), analog.; 168 Pages, Transcript
Format: Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 15 min.
Summary: An interview of Jennifer Bartlett conducted 1987 June-September, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art.
Bartlett discusses her family background and the dynamics within the family; her childhood interest in art; growing up in suburban Long Beach, California; attending Mills College and Yale School of Fine Arts; and her teachers and co-students there. She remembers in particular Elizabeth Murray, Jack Tworkov, and Richard Serra. She speaks about themes and intentions in her work, especially "Rhapsody" and various commissions including works created for ISI, Saatchi, Volvo, and Battery Park. Bartlett speaks about her writings "Cleopatra" and "History of the Universe" and their relationship to her painting. She concludes the interview with philosophical musings about art and taste.