Interviews with Artists
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Fortess, Karl E. (Karl Eugene), 1907-1993
setName: label: See more items in
content: Karl E. Fortess interviews with artists
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5.6 Linear Feet (Boxes 1-14)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1963-1985
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.fortkarl, Series 1
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The series is arranged with paper documents and audio reels at the beginning followed by cassettes. The cassettes are primarily arranged in alphabetical order with the exceptions of cassettes containing multiple interviews and the final three cassettes appearing in the box with documents and reels as there was no more space in the shoeboxs for them.
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The recorded interviews with artists by Karl Fortess measure 5.2 linear feet and date from circa 1963 to 1985. The interviews consist of 203 cassettes containing 263 interviews, averaging 35 minutes, of painters, sculptors, rintmakers, and art teachers. Fortess conducted seventy-nine of the interviews as a pilot for and as part of a grant from Office of Education, U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare at Boston University's School of Applied Arts. Included in the collection is the final report for the grant, June 1968, summarizing the objective was "to develop a library of taped interviews with contemporary American painters, sculptors, and graphic artists, such interviews to be concerned with questions of technical, professional and personal interest" and the evaluation process and outcomes of the value of the interviews as a teaching resource for faculty and students. The interviews followed guidelines to include background, training, work patterns, interests, teachers, influences, teaching experiences, attitudes toward teaching, and opinions on art trends. Fortess continued interviewing artists after completion of the grant, including many with artists associated with the Woodstock, N.Y. art community. Also included are two boxes of duplicate cassettes of the interviews.