Oral history interview with John Stephan
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 6 sound cassettes. Reformatted in 2010 as 10 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 54 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Stephan, John Walter, 1906-1995
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
label: Names
content: Art Institute of Chicago
label: Names
content: Betty Parsons Gallery
label: Names
content: Fairleigh Dickinson University -- Faculty
label: Names
content: Hunter College
label: Names
content: Public Works of Art Project
label: Names
content: United States. Work Projects Administration
label: Names
content: Bennett, Rainey
label: Names
content: Bohrod, Aaron
label: Names
content: Breinin, Raymond, 1910-
label: Names
content: Bulliet, C. J. (Clarence Joseph), 1883-1952
label: Names
content: Cahill, Holger, 1887-1960
label: Names
content: Calas, Nicolas
label: Names
content: Constant, George
label: Names
content: Coryllis, Peter
label: Names
content: Cunningham, Inez
label: Names
content: De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997
label: Names
content: Denby, Bill
label: Names
content: Ernst, Max, 1891-1976
label: Names
content: Fabian, John
label: Names
content: Flaherty, Robert Joseph, 1884-1951
label: Names
content: Gendel, Milton
label: Names
content: Goossen, E. C.
label: Names
content: Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994
label: Names
content: Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979
label: Names
content: Harrison, Caleb
label: Names
content: Johnson, Ben
label: Names
content: Jones, Jack
label: Names
content: Kiesler, Frederick
label: Names
content: Kline, Franz, 1910-1962
label: Names
content: Knopf, Alfred
label: Names
content: Kuh, Katharine
label: Names
content: Levy, Julien
label: Names
content: MacLeish, Norman, 1898-1949
label: Names
content: Matta, 1912-2002
label: Names
content: Miller, Edgar, 1899-1993
label: Names
content: Millman, Edward, 1907-1964
label: Names
content: Moran, Connie, 1898-
label: Names
content: Motherwell, Robert
label: Names
content: Nathanson, Winn
label: Names
content: Newman, Barnett, 1905-1970
label: Names
content: Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990
label: Names
content: Ott, Peterpaul, 1895-1992
label: Names
content: Parsons, Betty, 1900-1982
label: Names
content: Porter, Fairfield
label: Names
content: Praz, Mario, 1896-1982
label: Names
content: Robinson, Increase, 1890-1981
label: Names
content: Rosenberg, Harold, 1906-1978
label: Names
content: Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970
label: Names
content: Sebartes, Jaime
label: Names
content: Shapiro, Myra
label: Names
content: Siporin, Mitchell, 1910-1976
label: Names
content: Stephan, Dart
label: Names
content: Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980
label: Names
content: Torres, Jesús
label: Names
content: Walgreen, Ruth
label: Names
content: Watson, Dudley Crafts, 1885-
label: Names
content: Watson-Schütze, Eva, 1867-1935
label: Names
content: Weisenborn, Rudolph, b. 1881
label: Names
content: Wheeler, Monroe, 1899-
label: Names
content: Wilhelm, Jerry
label: Names
content: Zadkine, Ossip
label: Names
content: de Diego, Juan
topic: label: Occupation
content: Painters -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art, Modern -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Great Depression
label: Topic
content: New York school of art
label: Topic
content: Pop art
label: Topic
content: Surrealism
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: Stephan, John Walter, 1906-1995
label: Interviewer
content: Brown, Robert F.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: John Walter Stephan (1906-1995) was a painter.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 10 Items (Sound recording: 10 sound files (6 hr., 54 min.), digital, wav)
label: Extent
content: 100 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1986 May 20-1987 May 7
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.stepha86
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
altformavail: label: Existence and Location of Copies
content: Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Interview of John Walter Stephan, conducted by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art, at Newport, Rhode Island, on May 20, 1986 and May 7, 1987.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Stephan speaks of Chicago childhood and adolescence; life during the Depression; the Art Institute of Chicago; the 1930s Chicago leftist movement; the WPA and PWAP; The Tiger's Eye art magazine; Rome artistic and literary society; the New York School of artists; Betty Parsons Gallery; the Surrealists; teaching at Fairleigh Dickenson University; Hunter College; and his critiques of Pop and contemporary artists. Stephan also recalls Ruth Walgreen, Dart Stephan, Rainey Bennett, Clyfford Still, Juan de Diego, Caleb Harrison, Aaron Bohrod, Dudley Crafts Watson, Jack Jones, George Constant, Connie Moran, CJ Bulliet, Rudolph Weisenborn, Inez Cunningham, Eva Watson-Schütze, Jesus Torres, Edgar Miller, Katherine Kuh, Increase Robinson, Peterpaul Ott, Mitchell Siporin, Raymond Breinin, Holger Cahill, John Fabian, Eddie Millman, Winn Nathanson, Fairfield Porter, Norman MacLeish, Ossip Zadkine, Betty Parsons, Alfonso Ossorio, Max Ernst, Julien Levy, Peggy Guggenheim, Bill de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Barney Newman, Nicolas Calas, Bob Motherwell, Monroe Wheeler, Myra Shapiro, Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, Alfred Knopf, Robert Flaherty, Jaime Sebartés, Frederick Kiesler, Robert Matta, Mario Praz, Bill Denby, Ben Johnson, Milton Gendel, Walter Auerbach, Jerry Wilhelm, Eugene Goossens, and others.