Collection Information

Size: Transcript: 12 p.

Format: Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav files. Duration is 37 min.

Summary: An interview of Sidney Laufman conducted 1965 Jan. 29, by Joseph Trovato, for the Archives of American Art.

Laufman speaks of his background and education; studying under Robert Henri at the Art Students League; the development of his interest in art; going to Europe in 1920; his first exhibition in Paris; his involvement with the Federal Art Project in Key West, Fla., and later in New York City; how the project functioned; and the effect of the project on him and on his career. He recalls Alfred Barr.

Biographical/Historical Note

Sidney Laufman (1891-1985) was a painter in Sarasota, Fla.

Provenance

This interview 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.

Transcript: microfilm reel 3419 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Transcript: Patrons must use microfilm copy.

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Sidney Laufman, 1965 Jan. 29. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.