Oral history interview with Walter Erlebacher
name: label: Interviewee
content: Erlebacher, Walter, 1933-1991
label: Interviewer
content: Hunter, Anne S.
label: Names
content: Pratt Institute. Art School
label: Names
content: Beal, Jack, 1931-
label: Names
content: Hesse, Eva, 1936-1970
label: Names
content: Kostellow, Alexander, 1897-1954
label: Names
content: Leslie, Alfred, 1927-
label: Names
content: Pearlstein, Philip, 1924-
label: Names
content: Rigby, Ivan B.
topic: label: Topic
content: Sculpture, Modern -- 20th century -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
label: Topic
content: Figurative art
label: Topic
content: Sculptors -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- Interviews
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 others.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Erlebacher, Walter, 1933-1991
label: Interviewer
content: Hunter, Anne S.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Walter Erlebacher (1933-1991) was a sculptor and instructor from Philadelphia, Pa.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 5 Sound cassettes (Sound recording)
label: Extent
content: 297 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1991 Jan. 19
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.erleba91
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript: 35mm microfilm reel 4777 available at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Walter Erlebacher conducted 1991 Jan. 19, by Anne Hunter, for the Archives of American Art Philadelphia Project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Erlebacher discusses his early years in Frankfurt, immigrating with his family to New York City in 1940; his education and early visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; issues such as the Vietnam War and the resulting changes, multiculturalism; his interest in philosophy, Plato, mathematics and the golden section; his studies at Pratt, Alexander Kostellow and Ivan Rigby and the program they developed at Pratt; military service in Europe; returning to Pratt, his fellow students, and issues of representational art;
label: Scope and Contents
content: Eva Hesse; his shift to representational sculpture; his interest in anatomy which he taught himself and others in a private class; his friendship with other representational artists such as Philip Pearlstein, Alfred Leslie and Jack Beal; his use of mythology; Marcel Duchamp; exhibitions and his dislike of them; and a few major commissions including the Jesus in Philadelphia, the ARA commission, and the Jefferson Hospital commission he lost; Philadelphia as an art community and such controversies as the "Rocky" sculpture.