Vera Klement papers
name: label: Creator
content: Klement, Vera, 1929-
label: Names
content: MacDowell Colony
label: Names
content: Schulze, Franz, 1927-2019
topic: label: Occupation
content: Educators -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Illinois -- Chicago
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Women painters
label: Topic
content: Women artists
label: Topic
content: Women educators
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Vera Klement donated her papers to the Archives of American Art in several installments in 1986, 2004, and 2017.
creator: label: Creator
content: Klement, Vera, 1929-
setName: label: See more items in
content: Vera Klement papers
abstract: label: Summary
content: The papers of painter and educator Vera Klement measure 3.3 linear feet and 1.36 GB and date from 1950 to circa 2016. The papers include scattered correspondence with Franz Schulze and others, writings and notes including digital copies of a memoir, an interview, and a film, personal business records, printed and digital material, fourteen sketchbooks and other works of art, and photographs, including a photo of the MacDowell Colony in 1957.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Vera Klement (1929-) is a painter and educator in Chicago, Illinois. She is a founding member of "The FIVE."

Vera Klement was born in Danzig, Germany (now Gdańsk, Poland). She came to the United States in 1938 to escape the Nazi regime and settled in New York City. Klement studied at the Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture, graduating in 1950. After moving to Chicago in 1965, she taught at the University of Chicago from 1969 to 1995 and is a Professor Emerita. She became a founding member of "The FIVE," a group of artists, who protested what they saw as a regionalist bent in Chicago art during the early 1970s.  

Klement continues to live and work in Chicago, Illinois.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 3.3 Linear Feet
label: Extent
content: 1.36 Gigabytes
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1950-circa 2016
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.klemvera
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Gigabytes
label: Type
content: Sketchbooks
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Interviews
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: Due to its small size the collection is arranged as one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The collection was processed, and a finding aid prepared by Jayna Josefson in 2020. Born-digital materials were processed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2021 with funding provided by Smithsonian Collection Care and Preservation Fund.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sketchbooks
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The papers of painter and educator Vera Klement measure 3.3 linear feet and 1.36 GB and date from 1950 to circa 2016. The papers include scattered correspondence with Franz Schulze and others, writings and notes including digital copies of a memoir, an interview, and a film, personal business records, printed and digital material, fourteen sketchbooks and other works of art, and photographs, including a photo of the MacDowell Colony in 1957. 

Of note is Blunt Edge, an unpublished memoir by Klement in born-digital format; a born-digital recording of an oral history by Linda Kramer and Sandra Binion (2010); a born-digital copy of a film entitled Vera Klement: Blunt Edge, by Wonjung Bae; a bound volume, Disorder and Early Sorrow: a Meditation on War and Death in Homage to Picasso's Guernica 1937, by Vera Klement; and a poetry project compiled by Klement entitled Born of Silence.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Also found in the Archives of American Art are two oral history interviews with Vera Klement conducted for the Archives of American Art's Chicago Art and Artists: Oral History Project. The interviews were conducted by Lanny Silverman, 2015 June 12 and 14, and by Jason Stieber, 2016 May 25.