Oral history interview with Abram Lerner
odd: label: General
content: Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hrs., 36 min.
name: label: Interviewee
content: Lerner, Abram
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Creator
content: Diller, Burgoyne, 1906-1965
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
label: Names
content: Dlugoszewski, Lucia, 1931-2000
label: Names
content: Evergood, Philip, 1901-1973
label: Names
content: Hirshhorn, Joseph H.
label: Names
content: MacAgy, Douglas, 1913-
label: Names
content: Weber, Max, 1881-1961
topic: label: Occupation
content: Art museum directors -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Washington (D.C.)
label: Topic
content: Art -- Collectors and collecting -- New York (State) -- New York
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: These interviews are part of the Archives' 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: Lerner, Abram
label: Interviewer
content: Cummings, Paul
label: Creator
content: Diller, Burgoyne, 1906-1965
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Abram Lerner (1913-2007) was a museum director in Washington, D.C.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 179 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1975 Dec. 9-1976 Jan. 27
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.lerner75
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 Abram Lerner conducted 1975 Dec. 9-1976 Jan. 27, by Paul Cummings, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Lerner speaks of his childhood and youth in New York City; his education; going to museums and developing an interest in art; his painting career; getting on the WPA mural project; artists' unions and their importance; the gallery scene in New York City in the 1930s; going to work at the A.C.A. Gallery; meeting Joseph Hirshhorn, becoming friends and going to work for him; Hirshhorn's style of collecting; vainly trying to keep track of Hirshhorn's acquisitions; early exhibitions of Hirshhorn's collection, and their effect on the art market; Hirshhorn's involvement with the Smithsonian Institution and the beginning of the Hirshhorn Museum; the development of the Museum and its interaction with the Smithsonian; early exhibitions there; problems of museum administration and security; public response to the Hirshhorn Museum.
label: Scope and Contents
content: Lerner recalls Philip Evergood, Burgoyne Diller, Max Weber, and Douglas MacAgy.