Oral history interview with Wallace Putnam
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 2 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 2 hr., 57 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Putnam, Wallace, 1899-1989
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
label: Creator
content: Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project
label: Names
content: Avery, Milton, 1885-1965
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
topic: label: Topic
content: Abstract expressionism
label: Topic
content: Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview was conducted as part of the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and his Times oral history project, with funding provided by the Mark Rothko Foundation.
label: Provenance
content: Others interviewed on the project (by various interviewers) include: Sonia Allen, Sally Avery, Ben-Zion, Bernard Braddon, Ernest Briggs, Rhys Caparn, Elaine de Kooning, Herbert Ferber, Esther Gottlieb, Juliette Hays, Sidney Janis, Buffie Johnson, Jacob Kainen, Louis Kaufman, Jack Kufeld, Katharine Kuh, Stanley Kunitz, Joseph Liss, Dorothy Miller, Betty Parsons, Rebecca Reis, Maurice Roth, Sidney Schectman, Aaron Siskind, Joseph Solman, Hedda Sterne, Jack Tworkov, Esteban Vicente and Ed Weinstein. Each has been cataloged separately.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Putnam, Wallace, 1899-1989
label: Interviewer
content: Berman, Avis
label: Creator
content: Mark Rothko and His Times Oral History Project
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Wallace Putnam (1899-1989) was a painter, writer, lithographer, and draftsman from Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 36 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1982 Aug. 13-20
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.putnam82
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Wallace Putnam conducted 1982 Aug. 13-20, by Avis Berman, for the Archives of American Art's Mark Rothko and His Times oral history project.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Putnam recalls his youth and art training in Boston, Mass., his move to Hartford, Conn., and friendship with Milton Avery, whom he met when they both worked filing policies at Traveler's Insurance Co. He talks about his and Avery's early careers in New York and his first acquaintance with Mark Rothko. He remembers Rothko's early concerns as an artist, his interest in music, and visits to his studio and home (including catsitting for the Rothko's for three weeks).