Oral history interview with Eve Babitz
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 1 sound cassette. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 2 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Babitz, Eve
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
topic: label: Occupation
content: Artists' models -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Topic
content: Women authors
label: Topic
content: Women artists
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. Funding for the transcription of this interview for the Artists and Model series is provided by Bente and Gerald E. Buck Collection.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Babitz, Eve
label: Interviewer
content: Karlstrom, Paul J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Eve Babitz (1943-2021) was an artist's model, artist, and author from Los Angeles, California.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 44 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2000 June 14
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.babitz00
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 Eve Babitz conducted 2000 June 14, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art, at Babitz's home, Hollywood, California.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Part of an ongoing series on the theme of artists and models, this interview focused on the subject's experience as the nude woman playing chess with Marcel Duchamp, at his Pasadena Art Museum retrospective, in 1963. Purportedly Duchamp's favorite photograph, staged and taken by Julian Wasser, it is among the key documentary images of American modern art. This interview offers inside information about Los Angeles and the cultural world of the late 1960s. Igor Stravinsky was Babitz's godfather and her own father was a Baroque musicologist who often traveled to Europe. She was introduced to the world of visual arts by the late Jim Elliott's girlfriend and soon became part of the Ferus Gallery circle including Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, and Walter Hopps. She also describes being a student at Hollywood High School and the enormous influence of the film industry and celebrity (her favorite, James Dean) on the student body.