Oral history interview with Willem De Looper
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 4 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 23 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: De Looper, Willem
label: Interviewer
content: Forgey, Benjamin
label: Names
content: American University (Washington, D.C.). Fine Arts Dept.
label: Names
content: Phillips Collection
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art students -- Washington (D.C.) -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Painting, Modern -- 20th century -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Topic
content: World War, 1939-1945
label: Topic
content: Art -- Philosophy
label: Topic
content: Art criticism
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: De Looper, Willem
label: Interviewer
content: Forgey, Benjamin
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Willem De Looper (1932-2009) was a painter from Washington, D.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 134 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1992 January 26-February 29
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.deloop92
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Interviews
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript available on-line.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Willem De Looper conducted 1992 January 26 and February 29, by Benjamin Forgey, for the Archives of American Art. De Looper discusses growing up in the Hague, in Holland, during WWII; his family and educational background; moving to the United States in 1950; his U.S. Army service; his studies at American University and his teachers including Robert Gates, Ben Summerford, William Calfee, and Sarah Baker; his early experiments with abstraction; his first studio in Washington, D.C.; exhibiting at the Jefferson Place Gallery in the 1960s and later at the B.R. Kornblatt Gallery; working at the Phillips Collection for twenty-five years; and materials, techniques, and influences in his painting. He recalls Tom Downing, the Institute of Contemporary Art (Washington, D.C.), John Gernand, Sam Gilliam, Michael Clark, Duncan and Marjorie Phillips, Harold Giese, William Woodward, Jim McLaughlin, and others.