Oral history interview with Sylvan Cole
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 5 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 7 hr., 6 min.
label: General
content: Sound quality is fair; beginning and endings of tapes tend to be garbled and low.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Cole, Sylvan
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
label: Names
content: Associated American Artists
label: Names
content: Barnet, Will, 1911-2012
label: Names
content: Drewes, Werner, 1899-1985
label: Names
content: Florsheim, Richard A., 1916-1979
label: Names
content: Frankenthaler, Helen, 1928-2011
label: Names
content: Hockney, David
label: Names
content: Hofmann, Hans, 1880-1966
label: Names
content: Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967
label: Names
content: Johnson, Una E.
label: Names
content: Kainen, Jacob
label: Names
content: Levine, Jack, 1915-2010
label: Names
content: Lewenthal, Reeves, 1909-1987
label: Names
content: Lieberman, William Slattery, 1924-
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Soyer, Raphael, 1899-1987
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Occupation
content: Authors -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Prints -- Marketing
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: Cole, Sylvan
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Sylvan Cole (1918-2005) was an art dealer and writer of New York, New York.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 83 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2000 June-October
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.cole00
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 available on-line.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Sylvan Cole conducted 2000 June-October, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: The interviews took place over five sessions in New York, New York. Cole discusses the history of Associated American Artists, the gallery for whom he began working in 1946, and its marketing techniques, customer base, and personalities, such as its founder, Reeves Lewenthal. He also traces his own development as a dealer in prints after he left AAA and recalls many artists and other figures in the art world, including Will Barnet, Werner Drewes, Richard Florsheim, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Hans Hofmann, Edward Hopper, Una Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Jack Levine, William S. Lieberman, Robert Motherwell, and Raphael Soyer.