Oral history interview with Joe Overstreet
name: label: Interviewee
content: Overstreet, Joe, 1933-2019
label: Interviewer
content: Richards, Judith Olch
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: African American painters
label: Topic
content: Civil rights
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is 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 administrators.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Overstreet, Joe, 1933-2019
label: Interviewer
content: Richards, Judith Olch
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Interviewee Joe Overstreet (1933-2019) was an abstract artist in New York, N.Y. Interviewer Judith Olch Richards (1947- ) is former Executive director of iCI in New York, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 6 Items (Sound recording, master: 6 memory cards (5 hr., 15 min.), secure digital, 1.25 in.)
label: Extent
content: 120 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2010 Mar 17-18
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.overst10
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Joe Overstreet conducted 2010 March 17-18, by Judith Olch Richards, for the Archives of American Art, at Overstreet's home and studio in New York, N.Y.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Overstreet speaks of his family and childhood in Mississippi; introduction to art at a young age and moving to New York City, discovering painting; working at Disney and later Disneyland; studies at the California School of Fine Arts; studio on Grant Ave and the art community of San Francisco; shows with Merton Simpson and Spanierman Gallery LLC; invention of Curvism; interest in social issues and the Civil Rights movement; encounters with Billie Holliday and racial tensions; the evolution of Overstreet's process and style; the history of his paintings destroyed on 9/11; Overstreet also recalls Raymond Howell, Roy O. Disney, Al Williams, Diego Rivera, Bob Kaufman, Sargent Johnson, Merton Simpson, Romare Bearden, Frank Stella, Dominique Menils and others.