Artists unframed: snapshots from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art

161 Pages·2015·6.782 MB·English

by  Archives of American Art.;Foresta, Merry A

Snapshots from the Smithsonian’s
Archives of American Art
MERRY A. FORESTA
archives of american art
smithsonian institution, washington, d.c.
in association with
princeton architectural press, new york
published by
Princeton Architectural Press
37 East 7th Street
New York, New York 10003
www.papress.com
© 2015 The Smithsonian Institution
All rights reserved
Printed and bound in China by C&C Offset Printing Co.
18 17 16 15 4 3 2 1 First edition
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without
written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews.
Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright.
Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions.
editor: Sara Stemen designer: Benjamin English
special thanks to: Meredith Baber, Sara Bader, Nicola Bednarek Brower,
Janet Behning, Erin Cain, Megan Carey, Carina Cha, Andrea Chlad,
Tom Cho, Barbara Darko, Russell Fernandez, Jan Cigliano Hartman,
Jan Haux, Diane Levinson, Jennifer Lippert, Katharine Myers, Jaime Nelson,
Rob Shaeffer, Marielle Suba, Kaymar Thomas, Paul Wagner, Joseph Weston,
and Janet Wong of Princeton Architectural Press — Kevin C. Lippert, publisher
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Archives of American Art.
Artists unframed : snapshots from the Smithsonian’s Archives
of American Art / Merry Foresta. — First edition.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-61689-295-1 (hardback)
1. Artists—United States—Pictorial works—Exhibitions.
2. Photography—United States—Exhibitions.
3. United States—Biography—Portraits—Exhibitions.
4. Archives of American Art—Exhibitions.
I. Foresta, Merry A., author. II. Title.
n6536.a72 2015
709.2'2—dc23 2014027487
frontispiece:
Andy Warhol with George Klauber, Studio on Twenty-First Street, New York City, ca. 1949
Photograph by Philip Pearlstein, Philip Pearlstein Papers, 1949 – 2009
Foreword, Kate Haw
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Acknowledgments Introduction
9 11
WORK
19
PLAY
49
FAMILY & FRIENDS
87
THIS IS ME!
123
Credits
160
— dec. 25, 1976 —
Suzi Gablik, Leo Castelli, and Ton Simons on Saint Martin
Suzi Gablik Papers, 1960 – 2013
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FOREWORD
Snapshots are everywhere. Some are meticulously labeled and organized
in photograph albums, while others are haphazardly thrown into shoe
boxes and stashed in closets. In the digital era, snapshots are stored on
our smartphones and shared widely on social-media sites. Snapshots
are fertile ground for moments of rediscovery, when someone holds a
little picture and remembers the moment or life captured within it. This
book takes the ubiquitous snapshot that is central to the lives of so many
of us—including artists—and recognizes its varied roles, from a simple
document of time and place to an evocative work of art in and of itself.
The Archives of American Art’s deputy director, Liza Kirwin, con-
ceived the theme of this book in response to the increasing attention
given to snapshots in art history and popular media. Major museums
have organized exhibitions around the snapshot, including The Art of
the American Snapshot, 1888–1978: From the Collection of Robert E.
Jackson at the National Gallery of Art in 2007 and Now Is Then:
Snapshots from the Maresca Collection at the Newark Museum in 2008.
In 2010 the social-networking site Instagram launched, allowing users
to snap photographs comparable to Polaroid snapshots, complete with
filters and borders that mimic vintage prints.
The Archives’ first exploration of snapshots was the 2011 exhibition
Little Pictures, Big Lives: Snapshots from the Archives of American Art,
guest curated by photography specialist Merry Foresta, the former direc-
tor of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative. Foresta adeptly framed
these personal items within the history of photography, and in this book
she explores the snapshot further, as it relates to a variety of themes.
Among the Archives’ collections of more than twenty million items
are thousands of snapshots. I have found some new favorites among the
scrapbooks of art critic, artist, and teacher Suzi Gablik, who recently
made a generous donation of her papers to the Archives. In them we
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discover Gablik with Leo Castelli, Kenneth Noland, Anthony Caro,
Claes Oldenburg, and many other famous art-world figures. But here
they have stepped away from the studio or the gallery or the writing desk
and are engaged in the familiar, quotidian activities that help to shape
each of us—unself-conscious moments from vacations, Thanksgiving
dinners, birthday parties at home. In this book you will find many sim-
ilar images that offer intimate insight into the everyday lives of artists—
from snapshots taken by artists just after the 1900 introduction of the
Kodak Brownie camera to contemporary examples.
Through our own publications and by supporting the research of oth-
ers, the Archives of American Art tells the backstory of art in America.
These snapshots and the ever-growing number of letters, diaries, oral
histories, and other personal and business documents preserved at the
Archives are the building blocks of that backstory, adding dimension
and depth to our understanding of this country’s rich visual culture.
— Kate Haw, director, Archives of American Art
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Artists Unframed features snapshots selected from thousands of images
scattered throughout the documents, letters, and diaries of artists in the
collections of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. These pho-
tographs invite consideration not as simple or inconsequential little
pictures, but rather as complex evidence of the intimate lives of larger-
than-life people.
Like all publication projects, this book was the effort of many talented
individuals. My thanks go first to Kate Haw, director of the Archives
of American Art, who entered this project midstream and quickly gave
her blessing to our work. Liza Kirwin, the Archives’ deputy director,
not only provided the initial idea for a project about snapshots, but
throughout was generous with her deep knowledge of and unique per-
spective on the rich materials held in the collections. Mary Savig, cura-
tor of manuscripts, has been more than helpful with archival research.
With her enthusiasm for little pictures, she contributed not only infor-
mation and access to images, but also her delightful encouragement,
which was appreciated all along the way. I wish to thank, among the
Archives staff who also deserve recognition for shepherding this book,
Wendy Hurlock Baker, rights and reproductions coordinator; Marv
Hoffmeier, digital imagist; Bettina Smith, digital projects librarian;
Kathryn Donahue, intern; Susan Cary, registrar and collections man-
ager; and Suzanne Bybee, administrative officer. I would also like to
thank Jennifer N. Lippert, editorial director at Princeton Architectural
Press, for her enthusiasm and guidance during a project long in the
making, as well as Sara Stemen, senior editor.
Finally, my appreciation goes, as it should, to all those nameless pho-
tographers who made these snapshots and to those who saved them in
shoe boxes and passed them along for us to enjoy.
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