Oral history interview with Chaim Gross
name: label: Interviewee
content: Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Milton W. (Milton Wolf), 1911-1998
label: Names
content: Gross, Renée
label: Names
content: Soyer, Moses, 1899-1974
label: Names
content: Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987
topic: label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Gross, Chaim, 1904-1991
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Milton W. (Milton Wolf), 1911-1998
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Chaim Gross (1904-1991) was a sculptor from New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Sound cassettes (Sounding recording )
label: Extent
content: 49 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1981 May 26- 27
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.gross81
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript: 35mm microfilm reel 3197 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Chaim Gross conducted 1981 May 26-27, by Milton Wolf Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Gross speaks of his early background and youth in Austria; his family's experiences when the Russian Army invaded Austria in 1914; his experiences in a refugee camp; escaping to Vienna and to Budapest; being imprisoned in Budapest and sent back to Austria; immigrating to the United States in 1921; his education at the Educational Alliance and the Beaux Arts Institute; teaching himself wood carving; selling his first works; coming to work for the WPA and later for the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts; meeting and marrying his wife Renée; influences, and sculptors whose work he admires; Judaic themes in his work; his art collection; and the changes in American culture during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency.