Oral history interview with Herbert Gentry
name: label: Interviewee
content: Gentry, Herbert, 1919-2003
label: Interviewer
content: Kirwin, Liza
label: Names
content: Cobra (Association)
label: Names
content: Bearden, Romare (1911-1988)
label: Names
content: Delaney, Beauford, 1901-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- United States
label: Topic
content: Art and music
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- France
label: Topic
content: African American artists
label: Topic
content: African American painters
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are 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: Gentry, Herbert, 1919-2003
label: Interviewer
content: Kirwin, Liza
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Herbert Gentry (1919-2003) was a painter from New York, N.Y., and Malmo, Sweden. Gentry was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and moved to Harlem as a young child. After serving in WWII, he went to Paris to study painting. In 1948 he opened a club and gallery in Montparnasse that featured jazz and art. Gentry moved to Sweden in 1959 but kept his studio in Paris, and beginning in 1972, New York City.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Sound cassettes (Sound recording)
label: Extent
content: 31 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1991 May 23
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.gentry91
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available online.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Herbert Gentry conducted 1991 May 23, by Liza Kirwin, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Gentry recalls his childhood in Harlem; musicians he met and was influenced by, including Duke Ellington and Count Bassie; studies at New York University and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes and L'Academie de la Grand Chaumiere under the G.I. Bill; his jazz club/gallery in Montparnasse; friendships with Romare Bearden and Beauford Delaney; early exhibitions; his marriages; identification with the artist's group COBRA; and studios in Sweden and New York.