Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture records
name: label: Creator
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
label: Names
content: Bishop, Isabel, 1902-1988
label: Names
content: Cummings, Willard Warren, 1915-1975
label: Names
content: Fortess, Karl E. (Karl Eugene), 1907-1993
label: Names
content: Gonzalez, Xavier, 1898-1993
label: Names
content: Simon, Sidney, 1917-1997
topic: label: Topic
content: Art, American -- Study and teaching
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture records were lent to the Archives of American Art for microfilming in 1968. The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture via Willard Cummings and Jack Eastman donated portions of the lent material from 1968 to 1977. The lecture archive was donated between 2002 to 2014 via the Executive Director.
creator: label: Creator
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture
setName: label: See more items in
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture records measure 34.02 linear feet and date from 1945 to 2013. The paper records of the school document the period from circa 1945 to 1977 and consist of administrative records, financial records, visiting artist files, faculty files, student files, and photographic material. Also included are motion picture films by Jack Eastman and Karl Fortess, dating from circa 1950 to 1968, showing the school's campus and faculty, staff, and students at work and leisure. A large portion of the collection consists of the Skowhegan Lecture Archives, a sound recording archive of lectures given by artists speaking at the school between 1952 and 2013.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (est. 1946) is an art school and artist residency in Skowhegan, Maine. Since the school's beginnings, it has attracted prominent visiting artists and faculty members such as Jacob Lawrence, Philip Pearlstein, Ben Shahn, Isabel Bishop, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. 

The school was founded by Willard W. Cummings, Henry Varnum Poor, Sidney Simon, and Charles Cutler. While serving in Europe during World War II on The War Art Unit project, a project that sent artists to battle zones in order to record their impressions, they noticed that the European system of studying art allowed students intimate access to artists, their studios, and creative life. The Skowhegan School founders wanted to create a similar intimacy between students and artists in the U.S. After returning to the U.S., Cummings, Poor, Simon, and Cutler built an art program that included visiting artists and an artist lecture series that enabled students to interact with professional, well-established artists. In 1960, the school's administration was reorganized due to a fire that burned down the barn, which served as a fresco painting studio, and other nearby buildings. The reorganization introduced trustees and other facets of the administration that were needed to sustain the school's funding and operations.
function: label: Function
content: Art Schools -- Maine -- Skowhegan
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 34.02 Linear Feet
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1945-2013
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.skowscho
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged as 8 series.

Series 1: Administrative Records, 1945-1977 (Boxes 1-5, 12, OV 31; 5.0 linear feet)

Series 2: Financial Records, 1945-1967 (Boxes 5-8, 12, OV 31; 3.0 linear feet)

Series 3: Visiting Artists Files, 1948-1965 (Boxes 8; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 4: Faculty Files, 1946-1965 (Boxes 8-9; 0.4 linear feet)

Series 5: Student Files, 1946-1964 (Boxes 9-12; 2.0 linear feet)

Series 6: Photographic Materials, 1955-1977 (Boxes 11-12; 0.5 linear feet)

Series 7: Motion Picture Films, circa 1955-1970 (Box 11, film cans FC 13-30; 1.9 linear feet)

Series 8: Skowhegan Lecture Archives, 1952-2013
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: The papers were processed and a finding aid prepared by Sarah Mundy in 2019, and the motion picture films were processed and described by Megan McShea in 2019. During the processing of the film, 28 short clips of film were arranged by date onto compilation reels, identified in this finding aid. The films were also digitized in 2019 with funds provided by the Skowhegan School. Additional finding aid description of the films was completed by Kirsi Ritosalmi-Kisner in 2024. The Skowhegan Lecture Archive has not been processed.
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Material lent for microfilming is available on 35mm microfilm reels N68-27-N68-30, N68-78-N68-80, and N68-96-N68-97 at Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan.

Duplicate audio CDs of the Skowhegan Lecture Archives are also available at Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, Califorina; Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Califorina; Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine; Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y.; Tate Library and Archive, London; Arts Library, Robert A. Haas Family Arts Library at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

All of the motion picture films in the collection were digitized for research access in 2019 and are available at the Archives of American Art offices.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Motion pictures (visual works)
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture records measure 34.02 linear feet and date from 1945 to 2013. The paper records of the school document the period from circa 1945 to 1977 and consist of administrative records, financial records, visiting artist files, faculty files, student files, and photographic material. Also included are motion picture films by Jack Eastman and Karl Fortess, dating from circa 1950 to 1968, showing the school's campus and faculty, staff, and students at work and leisure., artists, and students. A large portion of the collection consists of the Skowhegan Lecture Archives, a sound recording archive of lectures given by artists speaking at the school between 1952 and 2013.

Administrative records include files for the school's board, exhibitions and benefits, fundraising, government agencies, publicity, and other office files. Financial records consist of accounting procedure documents, bills paid, budgets, student drawing accounts, payroll, real estate expenses, and reports. 

Files for visiting artists such as Philip Pearlstein, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and William Zorach contain correspondence, lecture notes and transcripts, and records regarding the broadcast of artists' lectures. Faculty files consist of correspondence, faculty lists, and other material for Isabel Bishop, Xavier Gonzalez, Sidney Simon, and other faculty members. Student files include alumni records, correspondence, recommendations and rejections, and scholarship material. 

Photographs and negatives are of Janet Fish, Paul Rasika, Alice Neel, Bette Davis, Jacob Lawrence, Roy Lichtenstein, faculty and visiting artists, and students at events, lectures, social gatherings, and in class.

Motion picture films include silent, color footage of the school's campus, working faculty and students, and social activities. Footage includes both edited footage and outtakes (footage shot but not used in the edited piece), that form three distinct sets of films from three different periods: 16 mm films from the 1950s, 8 mm films from 1964-1965, and super 8 mm films from 1966-1968. Based on handwritten notes on the original film containers, Karl Fortess was the creator of the 16 mm films, and Jack Eastman was the creator of the 8 mm film. It is unclear who created the super 8 mm films, but some of the footage appears to have been shot by Willard Cummings.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming on reels N68-27-N68-30, N68-78-N68-80, and N68-96-N68-97. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.