Collection Information

Size: 3.0 linear feet

Summary: The collection documents the lives of painter and educator Leon Berkowitz and his first wife, poet Ida Fox Berkowitz, and provides insight into the cultural and artistic climate in 1940s and 1950s Washington D.C. through correspondence, notes, sketches, photographs, printed material, and audio cassettes. Topics include Leon Berkowitz' philosophy of painting, a 1940s U.S. Army art therapy project, the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts (1940s-1950s), WCFM radio station (1949-1953), and exhibitions of Leon's paintings. The collection also contains some of his lecture notes and photographs of the couple's European and Mexican trips. Correspondents include Helmuth F. Kern, co-founder of the WWCA; painters John Ulbricht, Elaine de Kooning, Arthur Okamura, and sculptor Scott Burton.

Biographical/Historical Note

Leon Berkowitz (1919-1987) was a painter in Washington, D.C.Birthdate also cited as 1911. Ida Fox was a poet. With his first wife, poet Ida Fox (1913-197?), and Helmuth Kern, Berkowitz co-founded the Washington Workshop Center for the Arts (1945-1956) and the short-lived Washington D.C.-based cooperative radio station WCFM (1949-1953).

Provenance

Leon Berkowitz donated the papers of his first wife, Ida. After his death his second wife, Maureen Berkowitz, donated his papers.