Pen to paper: artists' handwritten letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art PDF
Preview Pen to paper: artists' handwritten letters from the Smithsonian's Archives of American Art
pen to paper ARTISTS’ HANDWRITTEN LETTERS FROM THE SMITHSONIAN’S ARCHIVES AMERICAN ART OF Edited with an introduction by Mary Savig PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS NEW YORK ARCHIVES OF AMERICAN ART, SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION WASHINGTON, D.C. Contents Foreword by Kate Haw 6 Introduction: The Art of Handwriting 9 Berenice Abbott Arthur G. Dove 24 56 Ivan Albright Marcel Duchamp 28 58 Oscar Bluemner Thomas Eakins 30 62 Charles Burchfield Howard Finster 34 64 Alexander Calder Dan Flavin 36 66 Mary Cassatt Llyn Foulkes 38 68 George Catlin John Haberle 42 70 Frederic Edwin Church Marsden Hartley 44 72 Joseph Cornell Martin Johnson Heade 46 76 Hanne Darboven Winslow Homer 50 78 Willem de Kooning Harriet Hosmer 52 80 Beauford Delaney Ray Johnson 54 82 Corita Kent Ad Reinhardt 84 118 Sister Mary Paulita (Helen) M. C. Richards 120 Kerrigan, B.V.M. 86 Eero Saarinen 124 Lee Krasner 88 John Singer Sargent 128 Jacob Lawrence 90 John Sloan 130 Louis Lozowick 92 Robert Smithson 132 Grandma Moses 94 Saul Steinberg 134 Robert Motherwell 96 Alfred Stieglitz 136 Isamu Noguchi 98 Henry Ossawa Tanner 138 Jim Nutt 100 Lenore Tawney 140 Georgia O’Keeffe 102 Cy Twombly 144 Claes Oldenburg 104 Max Weber 146 Walter Pach 108 H. C. Westermann 148 Maxfield Parrish 110 Edward Weston 150 Guy Pène du Bois 112 James McNeill Whistler 152 Jackson Pollock 114 Grant Wood 156 Abraham Rattner 116 Transcriptions 159 Acknowledgments 205 Credits 206 Foreword Since its founding in 1954, the mission of the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art has been to collect, preserve, and make available the primary materials docu- menting the history of the visual arts in the United States. In the past decade, digitization has transformed nearly every aspect of our work. Today, our collecting encompasses born digital materials and every year we make more and more of our collections available online for research. And yet, the vast bulk of written material in our collections is still represented by the evidence of artists and others putting pen to paper. Whether in our Washington, DC, reading room or on computer screens, archivists and researchers piece together handwritten letters, diaries, and notes to tell the story of art in America. Many artists in our collections make a lasting impression with their handwriting. Archivists, other staff, and frequent researchers gain an intimate familiarity with an artist’s hand as they delve into personal histories. The genesis of this book occurred during a lively discussion among Archives colleagues about easily recognizable hand- writing in our collections. Anyone who has worked at the Archives for any length of time is able to identify a letter by Georgia O’Keeffe, Maxfield Parrish, or Ad Reinhardt from across a room. Karen Weiss, head of digital operations at the Archives, observed that the topic was ripe for further investigation, as there are thousands of examples. The controlled, airy lettering of Rockwell Kent is especially noteworthy to me, as it evokes the precise composition of his paintings and also belies the passion conveyed in his love letters to his wife Sally. What else can we infer about artists and their lives from the examples of their handwriting we have in our collections? Weiss’s initial suggestion led to an exhibition, The Art of Handwriting, in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery during the summer of 2013. This volume expands 6 Rockwell Kent letter to Sally Kent, September 4, 1942. DE Wrrr CLINTON on that exhibition, demonstrating the broad scope of research on our collections as authorities on American art tell stories through handwriting. Reaching out even farther, we have made these letters and many other handwritten resources available through the Smithsonian’s Transcription Center, a web-based initiative through which volunteers from around the world are transcribing them, making it possible to search every word online. And so this book is dedicated to our longtime researchers who have spent count- less hours deciphering handwriting, as well as to new audiences who are discovering our resources on our website and on the Transcription Center. Together they have helped us see many fascinating handwritten documents in our collection through new eyes, and they are opening up the Archives of American Art to the world. Kate Haw, Director Archives of American Art 7 Philip Guston letter to Elise Asher, August 17, 1964. 8 Introduction THE ART OF HANDWRITING Handwritten letters are performances on paper. Elegant flourishes of cursive sashay across a page, while bold strokes of calligraphy shout for attention. Free-spirited scribbled letters trip over each other, and distinctive dashes direct traffic. These lively impressions take shape in endless variations, intertwining language and art. The expressive nature of handwriting is especially evident in personal correspon- dence, where its nuances evoke the presence of the author. Handwritten letters are the mainstay of any manuscript collection and also are valued for their historical content. There are hundreds of thousands of handwritten letters in the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art, dating from the eighteenth century through the present day. Each message brims with the sensibility of the writer at the moment of the inter- play among mind, hand, and pen. An artist might pen a letter just as she or he might draw a line. “I was in the middle of drawing when your card came!” writes painter Philip Guston in a 1964 letter to painter-poet Elise Asher [OPPOSITE]. A meandering doodle fills the top half of the page, suggesting that Guston has fluidly shifted from drawing to writing. He paints his words, creating hearty — if not ungainly — sentences that mirror the relaxed gestures of his abstract paintings at the time. Similarly, Surrealist painter Matta illuminates his letter to Joseph Cornell [OVERLEAF]. Gradients of color enliven several words, like Jojo, Cornell’s nickname, and Robert, the name of Cornell’s younger brother. These brief painterly missives are made more meaningful by the playful hand of the artist. Through the swells of ink and the furrows of line, the recipient feels the artist’s meaning. Handwriting conjures mood, time, and place, offering insight about the person behind the pen. The letters in this book have been gathered to highlight the many ways in which handwriting animates paper. 9 this page Matta letter to Joseph Cornell, May 6, 1947. opposite Howes’ model copy- book, or system of penmanship, 1861, by B. G. (Benjamin George) Howes (John D. Graham papers). DAGP, Paris w York / A Ne © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), So much of the historical record is handwritten. Since the colonial era, hand- writing trends in the United States have come and gone, responding to changes in business, technology, education, and art. Systems of cursive, calligraphy, and hand printing can be traced to specific cultural moments and locations. In the nineteenth century, rising literacy rates, coupled with the new availability of manufactured pens and inks, generated unparalleled passion for the art of handwriting. To be sure, those who could read and write did not often include the working poor, women, or people of color. But for those with suitable social standing, penmanship became an endeavor that reflected one’s intellectual acumen.¹ Writing master Platt Rogers Spencer was 10 INTRODUCTION
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